Tales From The Intersect
by fezzywhigg
Summary: A collection of one shots about minor characters or plots from the tv show Chuck
1. Chapter 1 Grand

Grand

Bryce could hardly believe this was his life. Two years out of college, three after he was recruited, and he was being partnered with one of the CIA's best, getting ready to go undercover. Sacrifices had been made but here he was standing next to a stunning, talented woman who was rumored to be Director Graham's wild card enforcer. The thought crossed his mind that maybe he had been assigned as her partner to balance out this force of nature.

" So...'Anderson'? I guess somebody watched The Matrix a little too much, huh?" She flashed him a bright smile. He had to smile in return at that statement. He knew Sarah had never watched the The Matrix. At least that's what she told him. He had let slip a story about him and his best friend at college seeing the movie at a second run movie theater. He relished the memory so much. It had been good to feel normal again and have a good friend at your side. As he had reminisced, he couldn't contain himself and had related the plot (and some of the dialog) to Sarah.

* * *

Bryce Larkin transferred to Fairfield College Prep in the fall of 1997 as a junior. Having been summarily dismissed from Notre Dame High School for bad behavior, his Dad had finagled a second chance at Fairfield after helping a client who was an alumnus and a big donor to the school. Bryce was bright but unfocused; acting up just kept things interesting.

He could have excelled at athletics but he partied too much. Although Bryce lived with his Dad, they weren't particularly close. Richard Larkin's law practice in Manhattan kept him very busy most of the time. Bryce's Mom had left 5 years ago to "find herself" in San Francisco. Apparently there was an artist in her trying to blossom and a workaholic husband and a behaviorally challenged son was holding that artist back.

Bryce seemed to always rank second or third in his parents' lives. In spite of that, he was ready to turn over a new leaf and started putting in the work. But that didn't mean he was going to quit having a good time.

Somehow Bryce had avoided the high school awkwardness that plagued most teenagers. He was accepted and befriended by most of the cliques including the popular kids. His friend Grand called them the "keepers of the gate" since they decided what (and who) was cool.

Bryce met Grand in chemistry on the first day of school but he didn't get to know him until they started playing each other in chess club. Grand had a quick wit and definitely gave Bryce as good as he got. If Bryce had to describe Grand, he would liken him to a coiled spring full of potential energy.

Grand was extremely intelligent but he didn't have a lot of self confidence. He mostly kept to himself. He was extremely loyal to his family and his few friends. He liked comic books and video games but he didn't let that distract him from working hard at school. His family wasn't wealthy. They did OK but they couldn't afford the tuition to Fairfield, so Grand worked hard to keep his scholarship.

Grand introduced Bryce to Dungeons and Dragons, along with the Star Trek/ Star Wars rivalry. Apparently it was a big deal which one you liked best. Though he had a soft spot for Han Solo, Bryce was a big fan of Next Generation and so was Grand. Grand loved his Playstation and Bryce enjoyed his N-64 and they would jokingly debate the merits of each platform. They found common ground, though, in a game called Zork. They had found it on a cartridge in a box they got when they bought an old Commodore 64 at a yard sale. It was surprisingly fun and they spent more time than they should have playing it.

Bryce, for his part, introduced Grand to partying. Grand would stay with Bryce at his house in Weston with the excuse of studying or just hanging out. They would take Bryce's red BMW 328i convertible from one party to another. Grand didn't have a car but swore he was getting one as soon as he saved up enough money. Depending on the party, they would usually head out about 8 at night and get in by 3 or 4 in the morning

Grand got his nickname when they went to their first party together. It was at Jason Riley's house and it was so cliché. His parents were in New York for dinner and a show. They planned to stay in the city overnight and wouldn't be back until the next afternoon.

Jason had promised there wouldn't be any parties. So of course, he threw one.

By the time they got there the party was in full swing. Loud music and whatever alcohol could be taken from the kids' respective parents or purchased by an older sibling or friend abounded. Grand had been in school with these kids for two years and most of them didn't know his name or recognize him. Bryce (whose name everyone seemed to know) took on the task of introducing Grand to his own classmates. When Bryce made introductions to a particularly inebriated girl, her slurred repeating of his name sounded like "grand" and from that point he was Grand.

As much as Bryce embraced his inner nerd, Grand excelled at partying. He was good at it and he enjoyed it. He knew where the parties were and who would be there. He started smoking and drinking but he found that he enjoyed weed most of all. It "took the edge off" he would say.

Dealing started as a small way of subsidizing Grand's own use. But since he was Grand he was good at it. He was was making the kind of money he could only dream of and he transformed from a nobody to someone people wanted to know. By the fall of senior year he had a schedule and a spreadsheet to keep up with his "hobby". The lies to his family grew and grew. His Mom would ask him if anything was wrong as he began to withdraw from his family. "No" he would answer "everything's great." and he meant it. His friendship with Bryce suffered and diminished as he had less time for chess, video games and just hanging out. Grand had new friends. They told him how great he was and oh by the way "can you hook me up?". Bryce never said anything even as he saw Grand fall deeper and deeper into this secret life. Bryce knew Grand needed help but couldn't bring himself to do anything about it.

Garrett Anderson was shot and killed by a drug dealer that thought he had moved in on his territory. His parents thought it was just a random act of brutal violence that had encroached into their world with tragic results. To them it was unexplainable. By the time of the funeral, though, rumors of their son had been whispered their way.

As Bryce paid his respects, he was barely able to keep from weeping openly. He missed his friend so much. Grand had been the one good thing in his life. Grand had been his tether, his connection to the good and normal in this world and now he was gone...because of him. The body in the casket was a grim reminder of his failure as friend.

_You taught me how to party, you made me this way_, it seemed to accuse him. _How could you let this happen to me Bryce? We were friends and you did nothing._

As he hurried from the viewing, he was stopped by Grand's Mom as he left the funeral home.

"Bryce, I've heard some terrible things about Garrett. You were his best friend…" Bryce's stomach churned and a lump formed in his throat. "...he was a good boy, right? If Garrett had been getting into trouble...into something over his head, you would have said something...have stopped him, right?"

Bryce hesitated; he knew he couldn't hurt Grand's Mom.

Before he could answer the woman continued "of course you would. What am I thinking? You would have saved him. Garrett looked up to you. He would have listened. I'm sorry. I'm falling apart. I know he was a good boy."

* * *

Bryce gave the woman a tentative, sad smile. "He was a good friend and a good person Mrs. Anderson. Don't listen to anything otherwise."

Bryce looked into those deep blue eyes. "It's a great name. One I'll never forget."

"Good. That'll make it easier for the cover."

"Yeah,..for the cover."


	2. Chapter 2 What's New Pussycat

**Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or the other characters. No money is being made just fun.**

**A/N early season 5ish. No beta folks. All mistakes are mine.**

Anna Wu was bored…. very bored. Ever since Hawaii she had been on one long loop of dating losers, working and hacking computers At least her hacking crush, The Piranha, was back. She wondered where he had been. Other than an attack on Atari (WTF?) back in 2009, she hadn't seen his work since 2003. Maybe he was out of retirement. Anna couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to collaborate with him...probably freaking great. The White Cat and the Piranha hacking their way through the wild west of the internet. The White Cat wasn't the most imaginative hacker name but it meant a lot to her because of what it represented. The maneki-neko was good luck. More than that, she associated it with her family and how her dad had risen in his political career despite his humble beginnings. Yeah, she had been called "pussy" but that hadn't lasted beyond the crashed servers of the offending party and the flaming of their online persona.

It had been 2002 when she first noticed the Piranha's work. It had inspired her even at the age of 16 to talk her parents into letting her go to the US for college. She imagined herself rising to his level or at least the same level of proficiency as her other heroes, a ghost loosely referred to as "The Hacker" and his nemesis "Chaos", although she wasn't sure she really wanted to be black hat. She had wanted to go to Stanford but had to settle for Occidental College in Los Angeles, in their cooperative degree program with the California Institute of Technology. Her natural ability with computers and coding let her excel in the engineering program. By the end of her second semester, though, she realized she was disinterested with the other aspects of school. She dropped out and got a job at The Buy More. She had been more than qualified to work in the Nerd Herd.

She sighed. Sometimes she thought even working at the Buy More would beat working for Pacific Data Applications. At least Chuck Bartowski kept things fun. (She tried to remind herself to be thankful that the NSA had granted her top secret clearance even though they never ended up recruiting her.) All she ever did these days was data retrieval and server security… a total waste of her talent and imagination. Her current project: testing and certifying servers that had been attacked by the Omen Virus for Verbanski Corp. Since they were mainly a security operation, Verbanski Corp. had outsourced the job to PDA. "I can't believe these things are using RIOS 6", Anna muttered under her breath. It made sense though. It was a solid operating system that had gone public domain after Ted Roark's death. It was the man's last humanitarian act. A lot of the code had been incorporated into Linux and even though it had been around forever, there was a strong users group on 4chan supporting it… what was it? _Fellow Undergraduate Librarians for Change and Relative United Media_... or something like in the day most government hardware was loaded with it. Oh well, she better get to it. She'd check on The Piranha later to see if he had hacked anymore banks….

* * *

Sarah awoke with a start. The last thing she remembered was being held captive by Fulcrum in the intersect room at the Fulcrum lab in Meadow Branch as they tried to force her to upload their version of the intersect. She had no memory from that point until now. Her first thought was to assess her surroundings. _Where was Chuck? _

The room was dark with a beeping sound to her right. She was in bed with an IV in her left arm and plastic tubes in her nose. How long had she been out? Was this a friendly or Fulcrum facility? Before she could gather any more thoughts, the door opened and a petite brunette woman in scrubs entered the room. Sarah's lightning-like reflexes and instinct took over. The woman was quickly subdued.

"I can break your neck or let you go. It all depends on your answer. If you understand me, nod your head yes".

The woman's head brushed Sarah's ear as she nodded.

"Where am I?"

"Westside Medical."

"Who brought me here?"

"I don't know. You were admitted through the Emergency Department."

"How many guards are outside?"

"Wh...What are you talking about?"

Jeez, why did they have to play dumb? It was insulting. As if high valued assets or agents wouldn't need to be guarded." Don't get smart. How many guards are outside?"

The woman thought for a moment as Sarah increased the force of her grip.

"There is a security guard at the front desk in lobby, if that's what you mean."

That didn't even make sense and it angered Sarah but she needed to focus. There was only one thing that mattered to her.

"What have you done with Chuck?" The woman shrugged, confused.

"What have you done with the tall, lanky, brown haired man I was with?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. As far as I know, you were brought in alone."

_Oh no! _ They must have taken Chuck somewhere else. Although she didn't think the nurse was lying, she couldn't take any chances. Sarah put her in a sleeper hold until she went unconscious. She had to get out of here.

Sarah quickly dressed the wound from the IV with a gauze bandage and eyed the unconscious nurse. She couldn't get out of there just wearing a hospital gown. Since her clothes and personal items were missing, she carefully undressed the nurse then bound and gagged her. Much to Sarah's surprise they fit but they were scrubs after all. She carefully opened the door to the room. As she surveyed the hallway, she noticed that it was deserted. She made her way to the stairwell, leaving the building through a fire exit. As she crossed the parking lot, staying to the shadows, she looked for pursuit and found none. Now she just needed to check in with Casey and find Chuck. Sarah knew she was vulnerable without communication or a weapon. She needed to get to her off-grid storage unit near Maison 23. She kept it as a safe house of sorts. It would have her backup phone and weapons.

What. The. Hell! Something was wrong, so very, very wrong. Sarah felt like she was in an episode of that show _The Twilight Zone_ she had seen over Christmas. Finding the Orange Orange closed; she broke into Castle only to find it empty, deserted. It took all of her training to not freak out. Assessing the situation as best she could, Sarah went through the details in her head. Since regaining consciousness in the hospital, she had trounced a nurse and stolen her clothes, made a quiet getaway and finally arrived at Castle only to find it abandoned. She still had no idea where Chuck was or what had even happened to him. Her secure numbers for Casey and General Beckman were disconnected. Sarah knew that protocol dictated that when a black op was compromised the base of operations would be shut down or destroyed if there was no time. She needed find a way to securely contact General Beckman.

Though she was lost in thought, Sarah couldn't help but notice a black Lotus sports car pull up as she crossed the plaza parking lot. She had a thing for cars. She loved her Porsche but thought the Lotus looked like fun. Sarah's distraction came to a screeching halt when a tall woman exited the car and was met at the Buy More doors by none other than Chuck. Her eyes widened. Sarah tried to process everything as she watched the woman walk up close to Chuck and seemed to direct him back inside, almost pushing him to the rear of the store. Sarah could feel her blood begin to boil. This must be Chuck's Fulcrum Handler! There's no way that bitch was getting away with this.

* * *

As the black clad ninja comes around the corner into Chucks office, she quickly shoots Chuck's handler with a tranq dart. The woman falls to the ground while Sarah's mind is moving a mile a minute. She is unsure why but she knows that Chuck hated the killing aspect of her job and she really had tried to make this a non-lethal extraction but dammit, she needs to be prepared. She stows away the tranq gun and she pulls out her pistol. She glances down at her Smith &amp; Wesson 5906, admiring the way the polished nickel plate glinted under the fluorescent lights.

Chuck's eyebrows shoot to his hairline as he spies a shapely black-clad ninja is making her way around the corner into his office. Could this day get any worse? He was currently dealing with two Carmichael Industries break-ins that could possibly be related to his spy life and now this.

Sarah falls and as he catches her the ninja closes in on him. Just as he starts to lower Sarah to the floor, the ninja yells at him.

"Chuck, don't freak out but we have got to go. Stay close and I'll get you out of here."

"Excuse me? Just who are you? And what are you doing here?"

Removing her mask Sarah quickly replied, "Chuck it's me. I forgot you've never seen me in this outfit. I actually haven't used it since right after your 26th birthday. Sorry about the computer by the way."

"That...that was you? I always wondered...wait….wait a minute... wait a doggone minute…what the hell?"

"Chuck, we've got to go. NOW! I don't know what Fulcrum has done to you or who this woman is but the longer we stay the greater the danger we have of getting caught..."

Morgan, hearing some commotion enters Chuck's office. "Chuck, what's going on...in….here?" Morgan's eyes widen as he observes Chuck with his hands up and Sarah collapsed on the floor with some woman pointing a gun at them.

Chuck's replies in an uncertain tone. "Nothing buddy, nothing at all. Just having a conversation with Sarah, that's all." Chuck rolls his eyes toward the intruder.

"Is that Sarah's gun? Why does she have Sarah's gun and why is it poin..."

"Morgan, why aren't you in Hawaii? Where's Anna?" the black clad figure shouts.

For the first time Morgan really looks at the woman and is shocked by what he sees. Sweat starts to form on Morgan's forehead as he continues to ponder the situation and the question posed to him. Suddenly it clicks. "Sarah! I'm so glad to see you!" he suddenly runs up in her and hugs her.

"Anna's right here." was all she heard as she felt the the spray hit her face and darkness fell over her eyes.

"Wow! I never thought carrying that knock out spray would come in handy. Alex is always worried I'm going to knock myself out, like that would ever happen…."

"Morgan...not now. Help me get Sarah and Anna up on the couch. We need to sort this out…"

As Sarah wakes up, her eyes widen with memory and she shoots up from the couch she finds herself on. "Hold on, hold on...it's ok baby...it's ok." Chucks soothing voice permeates her thoughts as he gives her a gentle hug and rubs her back. Sarah falls into Chuck's arms practically molding herself to his form as she checks him for any injuries. When she is satisfied that he is ok, she looks at the woman on the couch. Her widen in recognition and Sarah pulls Chuck in closer. She then pulls away a little, looks him straight in the eye and says "What is it with you and brunettes?"

* * *

"Anna Wu is currently being held at a NSA holding facility in downtown Los Angeles." General Diane Beckman reported through the large monitor in CI's conference room.

As Chuck, Sarah and Morgan looked on, Chuck raised his hand. "What exactly is going on with Anna, General?"

"It seems that Fulcrum or it's remaining fragments were not completely destroyed with the death of Ted Roark and the rise of the Ring. A private consortium of scientists were working on an intersect similar to the one that affected Hartley Winterbottom." General Beckman explained. "They apparently saw Agent Walker...I know...I know...it's Bartowski now... as an excellent personality template. Using moles in the CIA and NSA, they were able to access intel from her files. Also the intersect that Sarah was exposed to in the Meadow Branch housing development in 2009 was bi-directional. Not only did it download information but it uploaded it as well. The Fulcrum intersect machine was able to take an image of Sarah's personality and memories during it's brief activation.

"Sort of like ghosting a hard drive?" Chuck asks.

"Chuck, I'm sure I don't have any idea what your referring to. But to continue, Ms. Wu was exposed to this intersect while working as a IT tech at Pacific Data Associates. It seems a server with a copy of their intersect was accidently outsourced to PDA for data retrieval. Currently Ms. Wu is being held at a secure location and is scheduled for intersect suppression tomorrow morning."

"How will we explain her situation…." Sarah asked.

"You and Chuck won't have to be concerned about that. The suppression process should cause a short term amnesia and her superiors are unaware of the true nature of her condition since she was found collapsed at her workstation and sent to the hospital. She will be returned to Westside Hospital where she will be told that she hit her head and be released. We will follow her with an Agency Neurologists and Psychologists for the next 6 months to be sure of the intersect suppression under the guise of aftercare."

Both Sarah and Chuck let out a sigh of relief. "At least that the last time we'll have to deal with a bad intersect".

* * *

6 months later General Beckman received a report from Dr Leo Dreyfus on Anna Wu's condition. It was noted that she appeared to have no lingering effects from the intersect suppression other than occasional insomnia and it was recommended she be downgraded to intermittent surveillance for 1 year. When the NSA agent attempted to make contact with her 3 months later, she was gone...

**A/N Fanon influence: Hospital scene from ninjaVanish's Chuck and Sarah vs The Bunker.**


	3. Chuck Versus Kayla

Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or the musical inspiration from Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson's song "Adam And Eve".

A/N I want to thank **yeahokaycool **for their beta work. You're the best!

**Chuck**: "Excuse me. Uh, I'm sorry, General, but who in my life isn't a spy? My sister? My best friend? Should I just start asking people that when I first meet them? "Hi, I'd like the extra value meal and while we're on the topic, do you covertly work for a government espionage faction?" Chuck Versus the Gravitron.

September 2003

"But Evie, how will I find my socks?" a mock whine escaped the man's lips.

The petite woman packing her suitcase bit back a smile. It was a nickname he gave to her after they saw The Mummy. He had said she was every bit as brave and headstrong as the main character. Her smile faded just a bit. He was acting like the old Danny. The one she fell in love with. Tall, cute. A man with wit, mirth and a touch of goofiness. She hadn't seen that Danny much this past year. He was focused on his job. His ambition kept growing, even as it seemed his career stagnated.

"Couldn't another agent take this assignment?"

"The Director personally asked for my participation, Danny. You don't turn down the Director if you plan on furthering your career. Besides, I've been dreaming of field work since I joined the agency. Analyst work is great but I want to do more."

"I know… I know but… I mean we haven't even been married for year and…. I thought things had changed…"

"You mean you hoped they had changed. I've never said anything indicating I wanted to settle down and start a family. That was all you. Are sure this isn't because I'm getting promoted over you?"

"What! No! I don't know. I just worry about you. I can't protect you if you're under cover."

"This is what we signed up for, Danny. It will only be for a few months anyway."

January 2004

"Hey sis, who's our new neighbor?"

"Mrs. Heditsian says her name is Kayla Hart, and I quote, "a real hippie if you ask me."

"Remind me not to ask. I wonder if she needs some help."

* * *

_How is it possible for this man to be a potential bad guy? They're evil, right? Charles Bartowski… Chuck to his friends and family, is the furthest from evil imaginable. Thrown out of college and dumped by his girlfriend a year ago, he's now living with his sister and working at the local Buy More. The assignment from Director Graham just called for observation intel, so I've taken an apartment in the same complex as Chuck to keep a close eye on him. Apparently, he had been thrown out of a recruitment pipeline and the Director wanted to be sure it wasn't a ruse. The Director seemed to think he could be a real threat. I was given permission to use lethal force if necessary. God, I hope I don't get a kill order for him. I have barely gotten over my Red Test, and that was a stranger. A time and a place. I've only been watching for a month, but I don't think I could do it. He's so sweet, if a little shy. Probably a consequence of the way his last girlfriend treated him. Anyone would lose some self esteem if his girlfriend dumped him for his best friend. Short of Jerry Springer guests, who does that? I've observed the way he acts around others too, when he didn't know I was looking - sometimes reserved but generally outgoing, and always trying to help people. This man is evil?_

"Hey, Kayla".

"Hey Chuck".

"So I was thinking if you're not doin…"

"Sorry Chuck, I'm late for the club. Catch up with you later, OK?"

"Yeah… sure. Hey if you need anything you call me, got it?"

"Yeah… no problem… see you later." _It's better to keep my distance as much as possible. _

It was obvious he was infatuated with her. Even with her cover as a slightly fried, scattered club worker. It was ...disarming. But she thought the honey trap/seduction angle was disgusting. She didn't do that...at all. She just pretended to be oblivious. She had been watching Chuck for 3 months now. Work as a field agent was going well. She was passing along good intel. At least, good for Chuck getting off the CIA's radar. Chuck was so sweet and seemed to have so much potential, but if you took her reports at face value he came off looking like a loser working a dead end job. He hadn't tried to better himself after being thrown out of school and, other than nursing a crush on her, had no real contact with anyone outside his family and good friend from the Buy More.

* * *

_Things went south when I fought with my husband on our last rendezvous. He had pushed for me to come back to D.C. Accusing me of loving my job more than him, he stormed out of the hotel. He didn't even see me off at the airport. When I returned to Los Angeles, I was depressed, upset and feeling neglected. Chuck could see something was wrong but didn't know what and when he asked, I told him I had been on tour with some band and things hadn't worked out. Being Chuck, he wanted to comfort me. He made me dinner one night at my apartment. A Mediterranean dish with candles for lighting and red wine. God… the wine. I want to blame it on that but if I'm honest, I felt the pull between us. Chuck appreciated me and wanted to make me happy. I haven't had someone do that for so long. But then I slipped up. I slept with him. I practically ravished him on my couch, actually. He had been hesitant but once he knew he wasn't taking advantage, his full attention was focused on me and I enjoyed said attention. The next day was another story. Thank God for my cover legend. After all, Kayla Hart was a fly by night, live for the moment woman. Sex was just sex, nothing more. I could tell Chuck was confused and heartbroken when I didn't acknowledge anything more than dinner. I swore to myself it would never happen again, and it didn't. I should have asked to be recalled but I wouldn't want that on my record. I can do this. I lied and made it clear to him that it wasn't any more special than my other (implied ) hookups. When I saw how he reacted, I realized I wasn't any better than that horrible ex of his. What made things infinitely worse ( for me...but great for my assignment) was the fact that he still wanted to be around me. He would often surprise me with dropping by for just some light conversation about my day and share a few jokes. Occasionally, he would initiate a spontaneous movie night. He was careful to keep his distance on __**that **__couch. Somehow, though, I would always be a little closer to him by the end of the movie._

December 2004

It's a rainy day at the Santa Monica Pier, in a booth at the back of the Marisol Cocina Mexicana. A couple speaks in hushed voices. The man is tall with jet black hair and dark eyes. He's wearing a simple button down with khaki pants. His companion appears younger, brunette, in a short denim skirt, leather boots with layered vintage tops.

"Nice place. How did you find it?"

"Oh Ch...my asset and I came here once," the woman states as she sips her margarita and pushes her salsa with a chip. She defers from thinking too much about Chuck and the slip up at the mention of his name.

"Asset huh? You're a handler now?"

"It's really just observation on this assignment. You know that. He's more of a mark than anything," she tries to back peddle. Danny was already sensitive that she was moving along in her career while he was stuck in analysis. But she really did see Chuck as an asset… to her anyway... She didn't like thinking of him as a mark to be manipulated and used. He was too good for that designation in her mind.

Danny responds as if not even listening to her reply "Evie, I've missed you so much. It's nice to see my wife again." A mixture of excitement and bitterness drapes the man's words.

"I know this assignment hasn't worked out how we expected, Danny, but it's important work. Anyhow, Graham has said he expects to recall me any day now."

Danny visibly relaxes. "I can hardly wait. This seeing you only for a day or two every few months got old a year ago. But… hey, lets not talk about that." Eve notices a gleam in his eye. "I'm staying at the Casa Del Mar. They think I'm some high roller, so security won't be a problem when we go back to the suite."

"Um..sure. That's great!" She says with a little more gusto than she feels.

"And I have some more good news: a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild Pauillac 1996 is waiting for us in my suite even as we speak." _He always gets the same wine._ "Let's get out of here and head over to my hotel. " Danny quickly pays for their tab and they head to his rental car. As they enter the suite, Danny closes the door and embraces her from behind. She is all too aware of his desire for her. She is surprised, though, when he turns her around and instead of kissing her, he looks into her eyes. "Eve…." he hesitates. "I also need to talk to you about working with me on an operation ." He quickly adds " We can work together and be together like the Turner's. Win win."

"Danny, you know I can't do that. My mission here is covert. It takes up most of my time. As you said, we hardly get to see each other as it is. Besides, Graham would never sanction it." She refrains from pointing out his inexperience with field operations.

"That may be true, but Deputy Director Martin did. I have a copy of the order in my briefcase. Don't you see? This means we can work together, be together on the same project even if it's only for a little while."

Danny opens the wine and toasts "To us!" What do you think about the way "Glasses clink and the wine is tasted" sounds? and the wine is tasted. Eve moves to the balcony and looks at the deep blue of the Pacific, her mind awash with conflict. Her duty to her husband (_duty? when had it gone from love to duty?_) and her duty to her current assignment. She liked Danny's upbeat disposition ( it was a welcome change, honestly) and enthusiasm for this mission of his, but she still felt unsettled about it. Couldn't they just be themselves without their profession intruding for once? She felt a chill go up her spine. What she really wanted were strong arms to hold her and to feel the warmth of his body envelope her. A deep voice to tell her that he loved her and everything would be OK. To turn and look into those warm hazel eyes and run her hands through his curly brown hair. Instead, she turns to see a very naked, obviously aroused dark haired man on the bed beckoning her to his side.

20 minutes later Danny is in the shower and she is looking at the file he brought with him. It's a photocopy but all the right seals and signatures are where they should be. Eve studies the parameters of the mission "So, this is practically an off the books op." she says to him as he exits the bathroom with billow of steam. " I know it was given a go by Deputy Director Martin, but does Director Graham even know about this little side project of yours?"

"Don't worry. It's been cleared by the higher ups. You saw the order."

"So what's the job?" She's read the file, but she wants to hear his take on it.

"It's Paris, Eve, the City of Light. It's courier work . It can't get any easier but Parker and I…"

"Parker Johns, your section head?"

"Yeah. We think we've uncovered a new player in international espionage, in France of all places. We've seen some patterns that don't match the threats we've been tracking so far. I've got an agent in the organization that's willing to sell information. I just need a courier to securely bring the intel stateside."

""My assignment will be inactive during the Christmas holidays. I can fly to Paris and make contact with your agent then."

"That's great. The bathroom's free… unless you'd like some company…"

"No I'm good. How about we just sit on the couch later, watch a little TV and cuddle?"

Danny suppresses a frown and responds "That's fine too."

January 2005

Langston Graham never liked dealing with internal affairs. They were a pain, generally had low security clearances, and brought a semblance of morals to the table. Morals were bad for good spy work. Agent Donaldson was the worst. "Director, It's come to our attention Agent Evelyn Shaw has taken an unsanctioned trip to meet with an operative within a private espionage organization calling itself L'anneau. Initial investigations indicate that we have no operations in the area or concerning L'anneau."

"I'm sure there is a misunderstanding, let me look into it. Give me a week to sort this out." _What the hell is going on? Eve Shaw is supposed to be in deep cover with a potential asset in California._

"As you wish, Director. I look forward to your report."

It took almost a week, but Graham found out that a mid level analyst Parker Johns had sent a memo to Deputy Director Martin mentioning an organization called L'anneau with a recommendation for further investigation. The request had been rejected by the Deputy Director's office. This didn't look good for agent Eve Shaw. Under normal conditions, she would be recalled and interrogated, but her work for him in California fell into a grey area as it was, and he didn't want this kind of attention. Intel she had gathered so far indicated Bartowski wasn't anything but a slacker with no ambition. In hindsight, it was amazing he hadn't been thrown out of Stanford sooner. A real waste of resources. But that was water under the bridge. Langston Graham was a pragmatic man. Agents were commodities to be used or discarded as necessary, like pieces on a chessboard. He needed this Paris situation to go away quietly. Preferably, handled by someone loyal to him. Agent Walker would fit the bill. His little side project had worked out better than he could have expected. He had high hopes for her, and no time like the present to have her prove her loyalty. "Amber", he called his secretary, "Get me the Red Test Candidates list ."

A/N I think I got the red test year right...at least according to the Chuck wiki ;)


	4. Chapter 4 Catty Corner Part I

_Disclaimer: No ownership is stated or implied to the television show Chuck or it's characters. No money or profit is being made from this work. Any resemblance of a character to any real persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

_This story is a sequel to "What's New Pussycat" a previous chapter in "Tales From The Intersect". There is a lot of hopping around timeframe wise so look sharp. It is also has not been reviewed by my beta, so all mistakes are mine. Musical influences: "Too Close" by Alex Clare and "I Can't Stand The Rain" by Seal. Fanon influences: Moonlight Pilot/Frea O'Scanlin's "Walkers Eleven"_

Chapter 1

Anna Wu was pissed...very pissed. Being sent out for coffee on your first day rubbed her the wrong way. It smacked of sexism and corporate social hierarchy that should have been banished from the work place in the 20th century. And now... it looked like it was going to rain.

_**Previously,**_

She had just picked up her new car. She didn't remember loving German engineering quite so much before, or ever. It wasn't a Porsche but it would do. The Golf Cabriolet felt familiar to her and the black color felt right. So many crazy things were going on in her life since she had been injured while working for Pacific Data Applications. She felt fine but the doctors insisted that she undergo multiple MRIs and CAT scans. They also sent her to some shrink who kept asking her, amongst other things, "who are you?". It was just strange.

It also seemed so stupid. She was Anna Wu, the daughter of Taiwanese politician Huang Wu and her mom was his wife Chen. She had some crazy dreams concerning Chuck Bartowski, but she kept them to herself. Even stranger, as time went on she felt more and more trapped by her life. That there was a more exciting one she could be living. She literally woke up one day with a plan that involved people she couldn't possibly know but knew anyway, like Rocky.

She had felt that she needed a new start, and for some reason running seemed like the answer. She had just procured a new identity from a guy known to her only as Rocky. Seeing a grease-man (_and how did she know that term, anyway?_) to get a new identity didn't seem as odd to her as it should have. She remembered meeting Rocky in San Diego as a teenager, which was strange since she had never lived there.

The drive down had been bad enough but then she had to convince him she wasn't a cop and had the money. She had used some of the $80,000.00 she had found inside her maneki-neko in her apartment 6 months ago. Now she had a new identity. Her own skills gave her the new resumé and background.

The money was another mystery that she just let go, attributing it to her injury. She had no idea how the money got there but she knew it was hers. And logically she knew staying in the same city was risky, but she couldn't make herself leave. She had come up with all sorts of rationalizations but she knew she couldn't leave Burb...Los Angeles.

Her life used to be so mundane. So normal. She couldn't help but think back to more idyllic times.

_**January, 2010**_

As Anna entered the door to her apartment she slipped a few coins into the maneki-neko facing the door. Hmph! she thought, her luck sucked. What good was that damn cat anyway. The holidays sucked too, especially when your boyfriend decides to breakup with you right before Christmas. Honolulu was beautiful, the weather almost always perfect but what good was that with a broken heart. All she had now was bad memories, questions and, oh yeah, six months left on her lease, nice move Morgan.

Things had started out so well too. It had taken some time to get things together but by June last year, they were on there way to Hawaii signed lease in hand. She was moving in with the man she loved and that she thought loved her. Morgan had really grown up in the last year. Now without his mom to fall back on and Chuck taking off with Sarah to Europe (a Eurorail trip, she had heard), they were free to see where their relationship was going. She couldn't be more happy.

In spite of Emmett, she had been able to transfer to the Buy More's Honolulu store. Hawaii was definitely different from Burbank. After her shift she would go to the beach and Morgan would join her when he was done with his training for the day. Morgan's skin had darkened to a yummy bronze that she loved to stroke and….anyway life was good. Since they lived about four blocks from Waikiki Beach there was as much nightlife as they wanted, too.

Once Morgan finished his training though, things got a little more hectic. Morgan worked crazy hours since he was the new guy. Even when she worked late, it would be hours sometimes waiting for Morgan to be done. As such she ended up getting to know Morgan's co-workers. One in particular, Sean, was a sous-chef who seemed to take a shine to her. He was tall, clean shaven, blonde hair with piercing blue eyes. He surfed regularly and he was a few years younger than her. His attention was flattering but she made it understood that she was not only taken but that she only had eyes for Morgan.

As Thanksgiving approached, looking back on it, that's when things began to fall apart. An NSA representative had approached her for possible recruitment. He said she had been recommended by some big wig in the agency. It sounded intriguing but she didn't want to stress out Morgan so she kept it to herself. The pre-training meetings kept her away at night. Somehow Morgan became sure she was seeing Sean on the side and his work began to suffer.

It all came to a head few days before Christmas Eve when she was having a drink waiting for Morgan. Sean was hitting on her and put his hand on her shoulder. The crashing sound of cutlery surprised her and, she later realized, signaled that Morgan was leaving the restaurant.

She would have followed him but she thought he just needed time to cool down. In retrospect giving him time to cool down was not the best decision. By the time she got home he was gone, not even a note.

Christmas sucked!

_**May 10, 2010**_

It had been five months. Five lonely months since she and Morgan had broken up. She was back in Los Angeles. Hawaii had lost its appeal and she just wanted to be back on the mainland where she last had some control in her life. She still missed Morgan but had stubbornly refused to talk to him in the interim. She had found some of his stuff when she moved back and decided to return it to him. She had tried his Mom's house but she said he had moved out. That was all she said and had been a little cold to Anna. _I'm not the one who walked out _she fumed to herself_. I'll catch him at work. _

"I can't believe I'm doing this after the way he treated me" Anna said to herself. She had tried to return Morgan's things two times already and he had just ignored her. Morgan appearing from the back in a tux threw her off balance. He looked good. She stammered out about his things, her anger and hurt setting the tone but he just blew her off, insinuating she was the problem. What! She had hoped to close this chapter of her life and move on but now she found herself angry, annoyed and (If she's honest) slightly turned on with his bad boy ways as he walked out the Buy More doors. Where was this coming from? Who ordered the crazy?

On the other hand maybe her life hadn't been that idyllic after all...Shit.

_**Nov. 17, 2008**_

It was 4:00 in the afternoon as Agent John "Jack" Lingo parked at the The Waldren Hotel. Traffic on the 5 had been heavier than usual and he was running fifteen minutes late. He figured it wouldn't be a problem except for the agent he was replacing, Johnson, would be pissed. He couldn't help but think of Johnson's pet peeve. "I don't care what you say, afternoon guard duty is always boring."

It was as he got out of his car and the blue electrician's van left the area in front of the main entrance that he saw the black van. It had Los Angeles Coroner's Office painted on the side. _Never a good sign_. When he got upstairs and he saw the flurry of agents and his boss, he knew things were bad.

"Where the fuck were you Lego?" Agent Alejandro "Al" Nova, The Agent In Charge, was known for two things: A bad attitude and the frequent use of foul language. Additionally, he seemed to have tourettes' when it came to Jack's last name. "I've got two dead agents and where were you Linguine? Getting a fucking coffee? Fuck! I knew I was fucked when you were assigned to me. Here Larramore…" he sighed and pushed a piece of paper into Jack's hand. "Get your motherfucking ass down to the office and get debriefed."

_I guess afternoon guard duty just became very exciting_. He grimaced.

"Hey babe! You coming over tonight?"

"Sorry Anna. I 'm going to to be tied up tonight. I just got the Q36 Game copier! The greatest gift from Canada since Sha...Wayne Gretzky."

"Wayne Whozi?"

"Wayne Gre…."

"Hold on cowboy. I'm just teasing. I know you've been waiting for that thing to come in. I'll stop by later, 'kay?"

"Thanks Anna! Hey Chuck!..."

Anna stands to go and unlock the door to lunch room while adjusting her bra and pulling her shirt down. She looks over shoulder to see Morgan looking like a puppy with his tongue hanging out and staring into the distance with a small smile. She hesitates at the door. Lunch with him was fun and now that it's over, it's time do the girlfriend thing.

"Okay. Spill! What's bothering you? I could tell something was up before lunch."

Morgan furrows his brow and she knows this has something to do with Chuck Bartowski. It always does. That Morgan is considering his loyalties. Anna breaks into a wide smile as Morgan says "Okay here it is...Emmett has been after me to give him some dirt on Chuck. But this is Chuck. Even if it is what it appears, it's for a good reason.." God, he was loyal. She had suspected she was falling for him and him for her. The thought that he was giving that kind of loyalty to her made her warm all over.

"Anyhow I don't what to do. He's harassing Jeff and Lester and threatening to outlaw our poker game, and worse than that he implied he would fire me for dating a coworker." Morgan looked directly at her.

_That could not stand!_ Instead she said "What's so special about Emmett? You've dealt with worse or do I have to remind you of Harry Tang? Besides what's wrong with you dating Chuck?"

"Wha...I...Chuck...he….you…."

"I'm just teasing Morgan. Chill. In all seriousness just Tang him. He's so pompous he won't see it coming. But you'll have to make him work for it.

Morgan frowns before his eyebrows shoot up letting Anna know he's worked it out.

"My devious little minx! I love you Anna Wu!"

"I know."

_**June 2012**_

"Yo Jack! Here ya go Logo". A box containing the file of one Anna Wu is put down on an archaic rubber topped metal desk for cataloging and filing.

"Thanks Sean."

Jack tries to give the 23 year old "work friend" and surfing buddy a hard look . _Lingo is not that hard a name to remember_. Sean just smiles at Jack after the glare. Sean works for Los Angeles County part time in files and record archiving. They just happen to share storage space in the sub-basement with the Bureau. And, to be fair, he knows Sean is only teasing. Mocking and mimicking the man that sentenced Jack to the hole of cold case missing persons in the basement of the FBI office in Los Angeles. "Where do they come from and where do these people go ." Jack says to himself and he gets to work.

As Jack eats the light breakfast and an iced coffee he had grabbed at the local coffee shop, he ponders his position and how far he had fallen. Agent Nova had not only demoted Jack but had blocked any transfers or promotions for the last four years. Now at ripe old age of 27 Jack was still paying his dues for being late to a murder. Murders actually. Two agents and an unknown assailant. It had been downplayed in the press but this incident was felt pretty high up the chain of command. Jack had heard even the Director had been involved. Old Al had been sidelined and he took it out on Jack. (He had heard that Al was retiring so maybe his time in purgatory would be ending soon).

In fact the whole detail team had been punished in one way or another. The only one that seemed to get out unscathed was Edgar Winterborne. He resigned from the Bureau and went to work for Roark Instruments as corporate security.

After the demise of Ted Roark, which meant the demise of Roark Instruments, Winterborne had started his own private security firm. Jack guessed the RI contacts must have come in handy as Winterborne Security was starting to rival Verbanski Corp. in the private security market. The guy had his own private G6 for christ sake.

_**Present Day**_

The rain beat against the window of the coffee shop "Bean There Done That". Rain in Los Angeles in June wasn't unusual but the amount and ferocity was tipping the scales up. Forecasters had said the force was due to an incoming storm. It had the unusual effect of causing the masses to seek shelter, and space quickly became a problem. Anna was a little concerned it would be busy inside.

As Anna entered the coffee shop she saw that her hunch was correct. The place was practically bursting at the seams with people thanks to the weather. She had just gotten inside the door as the first large drops of rain splattered and thunk against the window. The deluge proceeded from there. _Screw those guys _Anna thought of her co-workers. She would get her skinny caramel macchiatoand wait the rain out.

Anna inhaled the delicious scent of her coffee. For most of her life she had been one of those people up with the sun but recently she wouldn't consider herself a morning person. She really didn't feel like herself until she had that first cup of coffee. She had a hectic morning scheduled, as it was her first day at Winterborne Security, and she hadn't had a chance until now to enjoy a cup. She scanned the crowded shop looking for a seat. She spotted an older man, a little heavy and unaccompanied. She was sure she would be able to get his seat with minimal seduction skills. _Seduction skills...where the hell did that come from? _Too much TV she concluded. She knew she was attractive and men like that would appreciate the attention with the added benefit that they displayed more manners than guys her age. "Piece of cake".

As Anna approached her chosen target, she was surprised by a dark blur from her left side and jumped a little, slightly spilling her coffee.. Her blur obviously noticed her reaction. "Hey...hey...sorry. I..I just was wondering if you had somewhere to sit. I didn't mean to startle you. You spilled your coffee; can I get another for you? I'll get another for you. You sit right here. I'll be right back."

As Anna starts to sit, almost in a daze from the rambling, the man headed for the counter suddenly turns. Before he opens his mouth she says "caramel macchiato...skinny." The man holds up one finger and makes a "got it" motion.

Anna catches her breath and studies the man as he waits in line. _Well that was unexpected._ The chair is warm from the former occupant and Anna finds it relaxing. Her eyes continue to appraise him. He's taller than her (_who isn't_, she reminds herself) with broad shoulders and a nice butt (_oh yeah!_). His has curly dark hair and deep tanned skin. He's lanky too with the hint of day old stubble. When he returns with her new coffee though, she is drawn into his deep green eyes. She almost doesn't hear him. She shakes her head and say "excuse me?".

"I said I'm Jack...Jack Lingo, here's your macchiato. Caramel right?" He just stops talking for a second or two, too long.

Anna replies "...and skinny"

_Jack...his name is Jack_, shakes his head. "And skinny. I'm sorry I surprised you. You looked like you needed a place to sit and it's raining cats and dogs out there."

"Yes, I did thank you...Jack." He smiles so wide , she has a shiver. _How could it be cold in here with all these people?_ She smiles back taking him in. She thinks Jack is an old name but it suits him. It seems so easy on her lips. Somehow she suddenly has an affinity for his name.

"Well anyway I hope the coffee is okay….." Jack hesitates clearly giving her a cue.

"Anna...Anna Wu". Anna couldn't stop her herself from giving her real name for some reason. Her new name was Marie Nicole "M. Nikki" Neko. No one blinked an eye at it at Winterbourne Security. Whether through ignorance or political correctness, she didn't know, she didn't care. She loved the inside joke just the same.

Jack's eyes shift down and to the left as if he's contemplating or waiting for something. She sees him purse his lips slightly "Good to meet you Anna. My name is Jack...yeah...right...I told you that already,...Jack Lingo. I come here often and I hope I run into you again. Not literally of course." He looks at his watch. "Crap I'm late. I'm sorry I have to go. I hope you enjoy the coffee." And just like that he heads for the door.

Before she can think about it, Anna shouts to his back. "I'm usually here getting coffee for my co-workers around 8 am. See you then?" _What the hell?_ Anna blushes. She's cooler than that!

Jack turns around before he leaves. A smile she's already growing to enjoy, on his face. "It's a date." and he walks into the rain.

A warm feeling spreads across her chest. "Maybe those guys aren't so bad at work...Nah.. they are totally assholes." and she enjoys her coffee while thinking of those green eyes.

As Jack returns to the records division he is greeted by Sean. "What the hell Jack. Dude you're soaked."

_What was I thinking? How stupid...walking right out into the rain. I didn't even get her number... but there is always tomorrow. _ "I know crazy weather. That storm they've been talking about, you know the one responsible for those waves we've been enjoying? It finally blew in while I was out. I've got some dry clothes in my locker. I hope the management is okay with casual Monday."

Jack returns a few minutes later dressed in board shorts, an old t-shirt and flip flops. He sits down at his terminal and just considers his morning. After being deployed to Iraq in 2007, he swore he would never curse the rain. Today it had brought him good waves and so much more.

He had noticed her with a random glance out the window of the coffee shop this morning, packed thanks to the overcast sky and impending rain. She had a determination to her stride (in spite of her ridiculously high heels) and then a hesitation at the doorway. It was then that he took in the full impact of her beauty. If he was honest, he probably had noticed it all along.

His dad had taught him that with dealing with people and situations you needed to lead, follow or get out of the way. His impression as she came in was that she was bold and maybe a little full of herself. She seemed, like the storm blowing in, a force of nature.

Him standing to offer his seat was more reflex than conscious thought but it was appreciated or at least threw her off her game. Of course it could have been the spilled coffee. And where did the boldness come from? He usually wasn't that forward with people, particularly women he found attractive. It was like she inspired him. And he was meeting her tomorrow for coffee. He just smiled.

After the rain tapered off, Anna returned to her sixth floor office in the Nagamichi building that the plaza was named after. She was greeted by her supervisor Kevin O'Brian. "Hey Nikki. I thought that the boys scared you off with that coffee run…."

"Trust me, boys don't scare me."

"Well...hah...hmph. They were just messing with you I'm sure. You know, new guy...gal...gah! co-worker and all." he smiled and shrugged.

"It's no problem, Kevin." Anna sets the tray with custom gourmet coffees on the break room table, smiles, looks up at the man and bats her eyes. "I spit in all the cups." Kevin's eyes widen in surprise. "Relax, I'm just messing with you."

"Uh...yeah...well." As he stares at her he is unable to tell if she is lying or not. "You've got orientation in the third floor conference room in ten minutes. Let me know if you get done early and we'll assign you to a team and get you on a project."

Ten minutes later Anna finds herself in a conference room that feels as beige as it looks. She is surrounded by about a dozen other people, recent hires and temps. A statuesque, thin woman taps a mike at the front of the room

"Hello, my name is Stephanie Katzen and I'll be running the orientation today. First things first. Welcome to Winterbourne Security. It is our goal to be the top security company in today's global market and you will be a part of that. Before we get to the fun of employee policy, healthcare and other benefits, I would like to introduce you to our president and founder, Edgar H. Winterbourne, in our orientation video…." Anna became excited. Edgar Winterborne was not a public person. In fact she had never seen the man and had come to work for the company on reputation alone.

The lights dim and a video is projected on the far wall. A tall man with sandy blond hair in a dark suit addresses the audience. "Hello I'm Edgar Winterbourne….."

Anna's heart leaps up to her throat. She did not like that man. There was no doubt. She was so disturbed that she couldn't concentrate. The man kept droning on using words like "honesty" "integrity" and "loyalty". Anna could not resolve the words with the speaker. Edgar Winterbourne was none of those things. She was sure of it but didn't know why.

When Anna returns to her floor, Kevin is waiting at her workstation. "Hey Nikki, how did the orientation go?"

Anna suppresses the chill running up her spine. "Fine but I still have to head down to Human Resources later to sign some things. What's up? Need another coffee run?"

"Uh...no..no I think we have that covered...forever. No, I need to bring you up to speed on your team's current project." Kevin hands Anna a folder. "Here is the folder with the details. The short version is that Project Lever is a DOD contracted assessment of security in data mining of older DOS based electronic records. I need you to assess the issue and present some solutions in a week."

Anna peruses the file. "No problem Kevin I'll get right on it." _And by that I mean after I check some things out._

Anna opens her Tory Burch bag and pulls out her frog headed USB drive and inserts into her desktop. _My hacker's handbag!_ Anna muses. She was hardly a "handbag" kind of girl considering the designer label but she liked the alliteration.

She had converted a PEZ dispenser to a high capacity USB drive (with built in dongle capabilities in case her machine got compromised) to keep her collection of executables and a few small programs she often used. Anything larger was stored in a hidden directory she had liberated from a server at the corporate headquarters of Buy More. As long as she had internet access she was golden.

After running one her executable files she constructs a virtual private machine. On the official machine she assigns some research tasks to give the appearance of working. _Now, let's see who you really are Mr. Winterbourne._

Apparently Edgar Winterbourne was ex-FBI. Further digging revealed that Winterbourne had been part of a failed security detail in 2010. All the agents involved had been reprimanded except him. When she read the list of fellow agents Anna's eyes bugged out. There was an Agent John Lingo listed. _Lingo? It couldn't be that common a name._ Sure enough photos revealed John Lingo was in fact the man who introduced himself to her this morning as Jack.

Jack and the other agents including the AIC were demoted and given low priority jobs within the bureau. Winterborne, on the other hand, was given a commendation and then resigned to work at Roark Instruments. Winterbourne Security had been started shortly after the death of Ted Roark with some unnamed financial backers.

As far as Jack, there really wasn't too much more she could find out. He was from Baltimore and went to college at some little state school near the beach in Maryland. He graduated with a BS in criminal justice with an above average GPA in 2005. He joined the Army and went Army Airborne. He served with distinction in several operations in Iraq while deployed there in 2007 before coming back to the states.

After his discharge in 2008, he applied and was accepted to the FBI Academy graduating in 2010. In fact the failed security detail was his first assignment. His current assignment was in archival records at the Los Angeles office.

His Facebook page was technically closed but...really?...might as well put a welcome mat out to the White Cat. It looked like he had a few friends but apparently didn't check it much. More importantly, no women other than his mom and no brunette women specifically. Why that would be a concern to her, being a brunette, was a puzzle though.

* * *

The next day Anna hurries to the coffee shop early with her earrings and security badge bangling about. Finding herself a morning person today, she had taken extra care to apply her makeup and do her hair. Her outfit was conservative but snug business wear that accentuated all the right places. It consisted of a white blouse, blue skirt and suit jacket accented by her "equalizers", four inch Louboutin heels.

As she enters the door to the "Bean" she is disappointed more than she would like to admit when she doesn't see anyone with brown curly hair and deep, warm, entrancing..._snap out of it Anna!_...green eyes. As her brow furrows and a frown starts to form, she does see someone else she recognizes.

Seated on a big comfy upholstered chair with her back to the wall and looking through the glass storefront that faced Anna's office building is none other than Sarah Walker, Chuck Bartowski's girlfriend (or was when Anna last heard about her two years ago). Her hair is shorter and she is wearing a skirt suit and heels also but she's sure it's her. Which is strange since Anna remembers that she was working at the Orange Orange in a tank top and jeans, the last time she saw her. Maybe she is management now?

With Anna's break up with Morgan she wonders if Sarah would want to talk to her but then again she had found out, when she tried to return Morgan's trinkets a few years ago, that she and Chuck had broken up for a while before getting back together again. Anna was curious and anxious but she was no coward. It looked like Sarah hadn't noticed her yet so she still had control in this situation. _What an odd way to think about bumping into someone you had once considered a friend. _After she gets her macchiato, she approaches Sarah.

"Hey Sarah, long time no see. How have you been?"

Sarah stopped mid sip of her large black coffee and looked over her cup at the woman addressing her in the low cut tight blouse and the short skirt and stared. Anna noticed that she seemed to assess her as she looked up and down.

It occurred to Anna that maybe she should have reconsidered talking to Sarah. And she really expected Sarah to be bigger than this. Sure things hadn't worked out with Morgan but this was rude. She wasn't going to feel bad just because Sarah had an attitude.

"Look, I'm sorry I seem to be interrupting your...whatever but you…."

"I'm sorry do I know you?"

_What the hell? "_Listen Sarah, I know Morgan and I aren't together anymore but I thought we could still be friendly…"

A pained expression with a dollop of frustration appears on Sarah's face. She places her coffee cup next to small plate with a half eaten chocolate croissant.

I'm sorry...I...I recently had an injury that left me with some memory loss. Do I…" she sighs. "How do I know you? You mentioned a "Morgan". Do you mean Morgan Grimes?"

Once Anna overcomes her surprise at hearing about Sarah's injury, she brings Sarah up to speed on their relationship over the last five years or at least the three that Anna knew her. Sarah seemed surprised when she mentioned her dating Morgan muttering something sounded like "so..not a fluke..." or something. Anna may also have embellished the closeness of her friendship with Sarah...just a scosh.

Anna had had always admired Sarah's confidence and demeanor. She recalls how she herself is mostly bravado but Sarah always had a quiet strength. She seemed to have control of her life. Except for her relationship with Chuck. That just seemed odd. If she hadn't been working at a yogurt shop and a hot dog restaurant before that, Anna would have never seen them getting together. Chuck was good guy, he was good looking and he had a subtle confident attitude, most of the time anyhow but he worked at a Buy More for crying out loud. Sarah impressed her as better than that.

There was no denying Sarah's love for Chuck. You could see it by the way she looked at him when he wasn't looking at her. She always seemed a little nervous around him like he was a delicate work of art. There was no wondering with Chuck either. He always looked at Sarah with complete adoration whether she was looking or not.

For her part of the conversation, Sarah seemed to share very little but was extremely curious about Chuck. What was he like? How did he treat her? How did she treat him? When Anna started giving her strange looks, she shared that her memory loss included all but the most recent events with Chuck.

"Yeah, how did that happen anyhow?"

"I was in a car accident and hit my head."

"That's crazy. Me too. I mean I hit my head as well but it was at work and I just lost a couple of weeks. I can't imagine losing five years. Hey..." Anna points back and forth between them both "amnesia sisters have to stick together. If you need anything, let me know. I'll do what I can."

Anna starts to talk about how Chuck adored Sarah, how obvious it was that she was in love with him. The small touches and the hidden looks. Anna shared that Sarah was almost a different person, "in a good way", when she was with Chuck. She notices a slight blush on Sarah's face and when it looks as if Sarah's eyes had moistened, she backtracks a little, misinterpreting.

"No no no. You weren't a bad person, just shy. What I meant was that you seemed to come out of your shell when you were with Chuck. And so did he. He seemed more confident, more focused when you were together. And ...uh...sorry but I've got to ask. Are you two still together? I would have expected Chuck to tell you these things."

"No..he did tell me but I wanted a different perspective and..and here you are. And no...we're not together. With my…. injury, I don't have any recollection of meeting him or being with him. He seems like a great guy but I don't remember him."

"Oh...that sucks. I can't believe Chuck would hold that against you though. That seems so unlike him."

"Chuck didn't...he would have..._sigh..._It was my decision. I don't know him. It would just be too weird. You know?"

"Yeah, I can see that. But man, that is just so sad." Before Anna can stop herself, considering the indelicacy, she says "I can't imagine how bad it must be to have forgotten what sex was like with Chuck Bartowski. Those shoulders and that butt….yum. So he's back on the market then?"

Before she goes on more of a tangent, Anna is reeled in by a low growl like sound and looks over to Sarah to see a glare that seemed to imply physical harm shortly. "Oh….hmm...I'll take that as a no."

Sarah huffs "It's complicated."

Anna laughs "See...now that sounds like old times. By the way…" Anna still notices a fiery look in Sarah's eyes. "Calm down girl! I was only kidding...a little...jeez. Amnesia sisters? Remember?" She laughs at her own unintentional joke. " I came here to meet a guy this morning. NOT Chuck Bartowski."

As if on cue Jack slips in the front door. "Anna! I'm so sorry I'm late. I.."

"Jack. Jack. Give me your phone." Jack hands Anna his phone as she points to Sarah. " Jack Lingo I'd like you to meet a friend of mine. Sarah Walker."

Sarah stands and shakes Jack's outstretched hand, "it's Bartowski. And it's nice to meet you Jack. You have no idea...truly."

"Bartowski huh? You weren't kidding. 'It's complicated.' I want to hear that story sometime" Anna says. Sarah frowns. Anna writes something on a business card and hands it to Sarah. "Here's my office number and cell. Call me, text me, anytime. Really, I mean it. Pay no attention to the name on the card they haven't gotten me new cards yet. And all joking aside, I hope you work it out with Chuck. He _is _a great guy. It's not an opinion. It's a fact." She mentally adds "_please don't hurt him_".

Sarah gapes for just a second recalling a similar conversation before recovering with a dazzling smile. As she reads Anna's card her eyebrows raise a little." So Winterbourne Security? Good for you Anna. I'll promise to call and catch up." Sarah replies and gives Anna an uncharacteristically tight hug and leaves.

"You Mr. Lingo are late but I like you. Here, I put my number in your phone. I've got to get to work. Call me and let's get together later."

Jack stares for a second. "Anna I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean to stand you up. I ..."

She smiles "Save it. I know. And I know you're sorry. Your eyes give you away. As for later….surprise me."

"You can count on me Anna Wu." and Jack breaks into a bright smile that makes her feel a little goofy. She pats him on his chest and heads for her company's offices.

The day seems so much brighter now. She's reconnected with an old friend which could get complicated considering her new life. But she also has a date (she's sure he'll call) with a yummy guy. Life is good. As Anna reaches security to drop off her cell phone and head up to her office, she is stopped. Her ID badge is missing.

"Crap!"

_Well, there you have it. Part I/ Chapter 1. Leave a review and I'll do my best answer back. Did you catch the thumb drive reference? That was from Frea's story ;)_


	5. Chapter 5 Catty Corner Part 2

_Disclaimer: No ownership is stated or implied to the television show Chuck or its characters. No money or profit is being made from this work. Any resemblance of a character to any real persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

_This story is a sequel to "What's New Pussycat" a previous chapter in "Tales From The Intersect". It is also has not been reviewed by my beta, so all mistakes are mine. Musical influences: "Too Close" by Alex Clare and "I Can't Stand The Rain" by Seal. Fanon influences: Moonlight Pilot/Frea O'Scanlin's "Walkers Eleven" and Arya's prayers "Becoming"_

_A/N: So to clarify, this story takes place in June 2012. This chapter is a bit shorter than last time. I'm still trying to get the hang of a multi-chapter story._

Chapter 2

Anna leaves security with a temporary ID/key badge and heads upstairs. Once she is on the sixth floor, she enters the room where she has her workstation with one thing in mind. She has some snooping to do. As she begins to pull out her flash drive, Kevin stops by to talk to her.

"Hey Nikki. The timetable has moved up with our project. I'll need your portion of Project Lever e-mailed to me by tomorrow. Sorry, I know it's a bit of a push considering it's your second day but that's how we roll around here. You hit the ground running. If it's not 100%, send it anyhow. From what I'm seeing, most of the other guys will be working the rest of the day."

"No worries Kev. I planned on staying at my desk today so no problem." _And that work is ready to go now, anyhow. I think I worked harder in college...jeez._ As soon as Kevin has headed back to his office, Anna inserts her USB drive.

To Anna's surprise there is very little information online about Chuck or Sarah from before 2011. If she hadn't worked with him and known her, It would be as if they didn't exist before 2011 and not even the whole year. There was plenty to be found on Chuck's sister and her husband though. _Aw...they had a little girl named Clara! Take that Morgan!_

From 2011 on she found something, but not much. A marriage license issued in Los Angeles County with the names Chuck Irving Bartowski and Sarah Lisa Walker dated May of 2011. _Well..that explains the Bartowski comment._ There was no public record of any motor vehicle accident involving Sarah though.

Then there was Carmichael Industries. Anna happened upon the web site for Carmichael Industries by accident. After not finding much on Chuck including his driver's license, she ran a facial recognition program on an old photo of Chuck from the Buy More days. A photo from the web site popped up clearly showing Chuck, Sarah and that grumpy guy that they had hung out with, John Casey. Only Chuck was identified as Charles Carmichael, CEO and Sarah as Sarah Carmichael CFO. A certificate of incorporation filed in August that same year for Carmichael Industries. That was it. It struck Anna as hinky.

As Anna pondered what was going on, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye. Kevin was going from workstation to workstation with two big guys from security with one of the vice presidents, Drew Anders looking on from the hallway.

Drew Anders had been one of the reasons Anna had chosen to work at Winterbourne. He was one of the best IT men in the country. He had been a wunderkind at Roark Instruments before the company fell apart. Working under him or better yet working with him was a great opportunity.

Anna quickly shut down her virtual machine and removed the flash drive. About 10 minutes later Kevin and the security guys were coming up to her station.

"What's up Kevin?"

"Nikki, I need you to back up and step away from your workstation."

"What's going on Kevin?"

"Just do what I say Nikki. I'm not asking." He was tense and uncharacteristically short with her. She scowled "fine but if you mess up my work it's on you."

Kevin sat down at the workstation and started typing. 10 minutes later he simply said "clear" and moved on to the next workstation. Cooper Hayes, a co-worker on the other side of the room and a known gossip was just gawking as Kevin methodically checked each machine. After Kevin had finished and as casually as possible, Anna approached Cooper.

"So...Coop?"

"Hey Nikki."

"So what crawled up Kevin's butt?"

"Hah! Nothing that I know of. I heard from one of the other guys that this is the protocol for a security breach."

"Somebody got inside Winterbourne Security?"

"Nah. Nothing like that. The Feds shut us down because they traced a breach of their system back to us."

"Well my team's project does have to do with the Department of Defense. Maybe that was it?"

"Maybe but I got the impression this went up higher on the food chain." He nods to the door.

"And it must have been pretty bad if they sent Anders down to oversee the search. Usually he only does that for the higher ups and the big boss. It doesn't matter though. If they had found anything we would see someone being escorted out of here with the armed agents over there." Cooper looks in the direction of the Drew Anders again, where two men in black suits that screamed "G-man" were positioned. "Personally, I'm okay with a day or two of downtime while this gets sorted out."

Anna hardly heard him, preoccupied with her thoughts. _What. The. Fuck!_

* * *

When Anna left Winterbourne Security later that day and retrieved her cell phone from security, she saw two texts from Jack. One from the morning:

**Hey Anna. Sorry about this AM.**

**Maybe drinks tonight?**

Then one after lunch:

**Text me when you're done with work**

**and we'll make some plans, if that's OK.**

She smiled down at her phone and called him instead.

* * *

Anna stood in front of the restaurant on South Grand Avenue. The sign read "Casey's Irish Pub". _Jeez I just can't get away from that guy today. _

Anna walks in the door and the hostess brings her to a small booth where Jack stands and greets her. The pub is traditional decor with a lot of dark wood and a tin ceiling. It's obviously a hotspot with the locals as she almost can't hear Jack over the din from multiple conversations.

"They have a great happy hour".

"I can tell" she replies almost yelling. "It's been a hell of a day, so I could use a good happy hour."

Anna and Jack sit down in the booth and the volume of the bar recedes to a conversational level.

"What happened?"

"Let's order some drinks first." Jack simply raises his pint glass.

"Sorry I didn't wait. I wanted to get one before they ran out. It's a beer brewed back East near where I went to college. The owner had a show on cable a few years ago. What's your pleasure?"

Anna raises her eyebrows and delivers a well practiced hesitation. "Oh...you mean what do I want to drink." Jack blushes just as she intended. "The house red is cool."

Jack Places their drink order. "So what is a bad day for Anna Wu? You work in the Nagamichi office tower, right?"

"Yeah, at Winterbourne Security." Jack's face starts to frown.

Anna notices immediately. "What's wrong?"

Jack grimaced a little. "I don't know if I told you but I work for the FBI. I worked with that guy when he was still at the Bureau. Our team had a case go FUBAR but somehow he was the only one who got out of that unscathed. He actually came out of it smelling like a rose. I'm in the records department and he owns a multinational multimillion dollar security company. I wish I knew his secret."

Something licks the back of Anna's memory, just out of reach. "I'm sorry Jack…"

"No, no don't be. I'm the one who's sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up." _I guess I still have some issues to resolve._ "Let's get back to what's on your mind. What happened today?"

"Well I've never met him…Mr. Winterbourne that is...but yesterday at orientation...I don't know...Did you ever get a feeling so strong it felt like a memory you couldn't place but you know it was true?"

"No, I can't say I have…"

"Well I've been having some lately and the last one was I had was today. I got the feeling that Edgar Winterbourne is a very bad person… and deadly. It was so strong; I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack."

"Are you sure it wasn't first day jitters?"

"I know you don't know me well Jack...yet." Jack's eyebrows rise at that. "But trust me...that just isn't me…."

After a pause Anna changes the subject. "You work at the FBI huh? Well you'll probably find what happened this afternoon more interesting. I can't give you specifics but you might appreciate this story. According to gossip, someone at the company accessed a federal database without authorization. It shut down all work and I have a project deadline coming up."

"Sorry to hear that." The drinks, Jack's second beer and Anna's wine arrive just then.

"Hold on. Is that your second drink?"

"Yeah..wh…"

Anna quickly catches the waitress. "Bring me another red please." She looks at Jack. "You ever seen the movie "The Thin Man?"

"I love that movie! My type is petite brunettes with wicked jaws."

Anna just smiles at the compliment buried in the misquote. "I can't let you get ahead of me now can I." and she winks. "You were saying?"

"Um..Okay..Wait...what? Oh yeah. Does that happen frequently in your line of work?"

"Not really, I mean we access Federal databases but it always through authorized channels. Accessing an unauthorized database never happens and if it did the consequences are pretty severe for the person responsible as well as the company since it's considered a security breach. But here's the kicker. I have it on good authority no off limit databases were accessed, just a routine background check. Cray-cray right?"

"Sounds like it. I put my tin foil hat away a while ago but I have a friend back East. She works for one of the alphabet organizations as an analyst. I can have her check it out if you like?"

"You talk to this girl often?" Anna bristles.

"Who...Megan? Nah. Our paths crossed once or twice when she lived out here. We're just gaming buddies online."

"Better be the only kind of buddies you are." Anna whispers under her breath. _And I bet she's a brunette!_

"Maybe I'll take you up on that Agent Lingo. Here I'll text you the names." Anna looks up and notices a grim look streaking across Jack's visage. "What?"

"Nothing." Jack answers a bit too quickly.

Once drinks are consumed and the tab is paid, "I got it." Jack says. "I can give you a ride home if you like?"

"Thanks but I drove." Jack seems to droop just a bit. Then Anna adds tentatively "Maybe we could get together later this week."

Jack's smile is so bright Anna swears the lights in the pub have been turned up.

"Give me call?"

"You know I will. See you then."

"See you."

Anna starts to head to her car only to hear her cell phone ring.

"Hey Kevin what's up? " she begins before Kevin interrupts.

"Look I know you're new and you want to prove yourself but listen there's no need to work late."

"Kevin, trust me…."

"I appreciate the effort but really, go home. Don't try to weasel out of this. Security just alerted me when they scanned your ID at the office. Just take it home. We'll catch up and if we don't...well the government is used to deadlines getting pushed back. Got me?"

"Uh...yeah. Yeah...no problem. I'll clear out in a few." Something was definitely going on and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

Anna quickly set off for her office. When she arrived at Winterbourne, she went to security. After giving them a song and dance about forgetting her ID upstairs and that her supervisor was after her for working too hard, so could they not call him ... please, she went straight to her department.

She spotted the statuesque brunette at the far end of the floor. She randomly thought the woman could pass for a character from Mass Effect under other circumstances.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

The woman spun and Anna heard something akin to an aerosol can being discharged. Instinct started and she rolled and ducked behind a desk, peeking up to see the figure advancing toward her.

Anna picked up the closest thing to her and threw it at the intruder with all her might and for some reason rushed the woman. Anna was aware enough to know that this was not something she did by habit and neither was reaching for a gun in the small of her back (which to her dismay was not there).

Sarah sees the diminutive woman she now knows as Anna Wu. She pulls out her tranq gun and fires. She had had a bad feeling about this plan. She knew Chuck would have helped her and it would have been better with the two of them but she couldn't shake the need to exact revenge on this guy Winterbourne alone.

Edgar Winterbourne had helped that bastard Nicholas Quinn. He had kept her from getting her revenge for his destruction of her life. A life that she thought she would never have, never deserved. She didn't remember Chuck. She had told him she didn't feel it but she had lied. She felt it...felt it ALL and hard. She felt the ache of a deep love. She didn't remember having it in her life. But her heart did. It reminded her every time she looked at Chuck.

When he told her their story, coupled with her feelings for him, she almost broke down. She laughed and she cried. She told Chuck she would try.

The more she thought, the more she seethed with anger. Quinn was dead but Edgar Winterbourne was still here. He would be dead too, if she had anything to say about it but there would be some slow agony for him before that.

What the hell? Anna was moving like someone with training, not the ex-Nerd Herder she said she was. The snow globe struck her without warning and she dropped the tranq gun. That's it. It's on. She rushed Anna.

The two women collide in a fury of punches kicks and blocks. Anna was vaguely aware of using other martial art styles then the Wushu style she had trained in since high school. Sarah for her part noticed that Anna had a defensive move for every attack.

Anna advanced and attacked and defended like she knew what Sarah would do next. It was like sparring with herself. As if each party had the same training and strategy. Sarah had a sense of déjà vu, like she had seen this happen before...with Chuck?

The thought distracted Sarah and left her vulnerable for a second. Anna struck but the height difference kept her from full contact. It did however allow her to pull the dark wig from Sarah's head. Anna stopped mid punch with the sight before her.

"Sarah?!" Anna froze then backed up. "Sarah what the hell is going on?"

Well, this wasn't going well. "Anna, I can explain. Stop, just stop for a minute."

Anna caught her breath. _This is crazy_…..Her eyes widened. "Hold on Sarah... Come with me...it's okay. It's safe."

Sarah follows Anna to her cubicle. "Just a second…" Anna plugs in her flash drive and attacks the keyboard and mouse. Sarah can't help but think that it looks like Scotty from Star Trek IV and wonders why Chuck didn't care for the movie. _What?_

"It should be fine now. I've looped the cameras and overwritten the security footage. Now what the fuck Sarah?!"

"Alright! I owe you an explanation I know but…". Sarah hesitates feeling more unsettled than before but she needs an ally. _Maybe Anna_.

She decides to go for broke. "Edgar Winterbourne helped the man that harmed me. The man responsible for my amnesia in fact. I was trying to get something on Winterbourne to make him pay for that. So I stole your ID to gain access to the building..."

"Sarah, hold the hell up. You were a food industry employee. How the hell do you get from that to personal revenge with a touch of corporate espionage?"

Sarah can't help but laugh at that. What can she say and what can't she say? She herself is only starting to remember bits and pieces but she knows what her mission logs say and what Chuck has told her. General Beckman has even given her access to her old mission reports.

_Wait a minute!_ "Well how do you end up in a security company "Nikki?"

"No deflecting. Answer me or the truce is over and security will know Sarah Bartowski was here."

"Look who's deflecting now? Okay, Okay. Listen; there was more to Chuck and my relationship with him then you aware of..."

"You mean the Intersect?"

"What?!"

"What?!...Oh. That just popped into my head when you mentioned Chuck. I don't even know what it means. _Sigh_...Look something is wrong with me. Okay! I don't know what it is but something is very very wrong with me and I'm remembering things that I shouldn't know..."

Sarah gapes at Anna and her memory seems to tingle.

"...I know a grease man named Rocky in San Diego. I remember carrying a gun and I never even fired a gun before. That back there…" Anna points to the main office. "...I was using a combination of Jeet Kune Do and two or three other styles of martial arts that I don't and shouldn't know."

"I don't know what to say. Those are things I know. And Chuck and I were involved with something called the Intersect….I know...I know.. we kept it under wraps. It...It's just so messed up." Sarah sighed. "As crazy as this is going to sound.."

"Can't be any crazier than whatever this is." Sarah raises an eyebrow.

"...I worked for the CIA before I knew Chuck. _And after too, apparently. _After that, all I know for sure is that Chuck and I worked together beyond what most everyone knew. Look I don't know what's going on and I need some help. If I contact anyone at the agency I would be exposed. I have a few friends that could help but they are on assignments and they don't know about what happened to me. Anna, I have no one to turn too…"

"What about Chuck? You "worked" together? I thought he was more than that to you. Your boyfriend and then your husband. Or was all that a lie? Because if it was, give yourself an Oscar blondie 'cause you had us all fooled. And even if all you were was partners, can't he help you?"

"He would, in a heartbeat but I'm in a bad place and I don't want to involve him with this. It's crazy and I know it may be hard for you to understand but I am head over heels in love with a man I don't know."

"Liar."

"What!?"

"You know him! I can tell by the way you react every time he's mentioned. You may not remember him but you _know_ him."

"Okay..._sigh..._you're right but I can't involve him with this. Alright? Help me Anna Wu, you're my only hope."

Anna considers Sarah's request. She knew Winterborne was dirty and now she knows a little of how dirty but there are so many questions. How does she know that? How does she know about Chuck and Sarah? What about everything else? Anna doesn't know for sure but her instincts say that helping Sarah may be her best option.

"Okay Sarah I'll help but when this is done, I want some answers."

"Thank you Anna. No problem. Now I have some thoughts but let's get out of here first."

"I'm with you sister."

* * *

Jack gets back to his house, unlocks the door, grabs a beer from the fridge and goes out on the deck. He can't get what Anna said about Winterbourne out of his head. When Anna had mentioned him it had drug up a lot of bad feelings.

_Nothing like baggage to impress the ladies_. Still, it gets him wondering. Jack sits on the couch and logs on to Xbox live. It's about 12:00 am back east. _I wonder if Megan is playing late tonight?_

_A/N: So another fanon influence is ersk4's "Chuck vs The Super Spy" Check it out. It is a really great read! Yeah, I don't know (or remember) where the reference to Star Trek IV came from; canon, fanon or left field._


	6. Chapter 6 Catty Corner Part 3

_Disclaimer: No ownership is stated or implied to the television show Chuck or its characters. No money or profit is being made from this work. Any resemblance of a character to any real persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

_This story is a sequel to "What's New Pussycat" a previous chapter in "Tales From The Intersect". It is also has not been reviewed by my beta, so all mistakes are mine. Musical influences: "Too Close" by Alex Clare and "I Can't Stand The Rain" by Seal. Fanon influences: Moonlight Pilot/Frea O'Scanlin's "Walkers Eleven", ersk4's "Chuck vs The Super Spy" and Arya's prayers "Becoming"._

A/N: I combined two small chapters here. Hopefully it reads well as one.

Chapter 3

_**Maison 23 **_

As the two women approach the front doors of Maison 23, Anna exclaims "You live in a hotel room? I thought you lived with Chuck? This has got to be expensive."

"I used to live here when I knew you last or so I'm told. I'm also told I gave my room up when I moved in with Chuck but it was recently reacquired for me. Since it was in my name anyhow I decided to keep it while things are sorting out."

Anna gets a déjà vu feeling as they enter room 832 and her eyebrows knit before verbalizing what she had been musing on the way up the elevator.

"I thought you and Chuck were working things out now?"

"We are but the room is very convenient with things being awkward at home right now."

Anna frowned a little. She could sense, somehow, that this was just an excuse to cover up Sarah's fear. She also knew even way back when that Sarah was crazy for Chuck and that Sarah still was, even with this amnesia thing and decided she was having none of it.

"Well you had better woman up and un-awkward things. It's obvious you love him. Get over yourself and go claim your man before some skanky brunette does…. What?"

"Now it's awkward here too."

"See, this is what I'm talking about...jeez. And I'm changing the deal…

"...pray I do not alter it further...oops...sorry. I don't know where that came from." Sarah covers her mouth and somehow looks puzzled and amused at the same time. Anna suspected Sarah did too or did now.

"...when we're done you get rid of this room. You need to be with Chuck and it gives me the heebee jeebees."

"So you're saying you can't get into his private server?"

"I'm good but I'm not that good. You would need someone like the Piranha or his skill level for something like that. Why are you smiling?"

"What?"

"You've got a goofy grin on your face."

Sarah realized Anna was right. "I don't know why but I think I've heard of that hacker before."

"Well I wish you knew where he was now. That kind of help would make this so much easier. But since we don't, I've been thinking about how to get the intel." Anna looked directly to Sarah and said "have you ever heard of "The Magnet"?"

Jack knew it was going to be a long day in records but he thought he could use it to his benefit. He hadn't been able to get the Waldren hotel case out of his mind. It was his Waterloo. If he knew what had gone on maybe he could redeem himself. It seemed a little self indulgent and egotistical to think he could find something on a four year old cold case but he wasn't going anywhere and what harm could it do?

Two days later he found out. His request for records was denied because the clearance level had been elevated to beyond top secret. What? He knew it was bad and two agents had lost their lives but that was crazy. He still had a top secret clearance and the case was closed. It shouldn't have been a problem and it made him suspicious that something bigger was going on than a failed guard detail and fallen agents.

As if to confirm his suspicions Megan contacted him on Xbox while he was playing Call of Duty online later that night. He was playing and then he was at a dialog screen.

_**no names and try to be as general as possible!**_

_**this is a secure line but I may have to go suddenly.**_

_**also no talking just text!**_

_**Now that that's out of the way.**_

_**WTF!**_

Jack adjusted to the Matrix like whiplash and proceeded with caution. He knew of only one person with this kind of know how but he wasn't taking any chances.

_**this is a gaming friend. Is this my friend who i asked to check on some things for me?**_

_**I said it was secure! I verified it was you through your webcam, so yeah.**_

That was disturbing!

_**That request though.**_

_**The guy and the couple are hot potatoes.**_

_**not sure if it's the same reason or not.**_

_**The couple are very hot though.**_

_**I barely got out without being noticed.**_

_**trust me when i say i don't need that kind of trouble.**_

Jack had never known Megan to be spooked about anything. She was a master. A little OCD but that was beside the point. He considered the Waldren case. He knew he was pushing but it could help him.

_**Can you get me a case file?**_

"Look somehow I have some of your skills and memories….". Anna suspected the accident at Pacific Data Applications. She didn't know how but it was the only thing that had happened before she had changed.

Sarah did not even want to think about that too deeply and she was oddly jealous that Anna possibly, probably had memories that she desperately wanted back. It only stoked her lust for revenge higher.

"...so I think I can get this done and help you out. No need to kill Winterborne." Anna cocked an eyebrow at Sarah. "Nope...don't try to deny it. I'm thinking the same thing. You know Chuck never liked the killing…"

"...but he understood." _What the hell!_

"Just think of it as a twin thing." Anna tried to help.

_It didn't. And where had she heard "twin thing" before?_

"If you do your job that shouldn't be a problem Anna." _Let try to keep this professional. _

"I'm not the one that used to be known as the Wildcard, Sarah." _Or not._

Later that week, Anna realized several things. One, work was boring. Kevin was at a conference and her part of the project was done. Two, running a mission/sting/con whatever this thing was with Sarah, was not like TV. It took time and planning with an emphasis on time. Time for research, time for surveillance and time to let your plan unfold.

The plan seemed solid and Sarah was on board after making some tactical suggestions. But something was off. Something was missing. Anna began to review the previous week and realized the thing she was missing was Jack. She had been so caught up with reconnecting with Sarah and the craziness that followed; she hadn't been returning Jack's calls or texts.

_Dammit! He's not answering. _Anna panics for a split second. _I know I'll just stop by his work at lunch._

As soon as she entered the record section of the Federal building Anna sees a familiar face.

_**Slappp**_ ! "That's for Morgan you egotistical son of a bitch!" It had been two years but Anna was still pissed. Shockingly, a little more than she expected.

Sean Jones having looked up from his desk at the sound of clicking heels was physically pushed back in his chair with the the blow. He got out a "uh…" before the verbal onslaught continued.

"I told you to stay away but you thought too much of yourself, you bastard. What the fuck are you doing here?!"

Sean tried again as he rubbed his left cheek. " An...Anna?"

"Yeah. Why are you here? I thought someone else worked here."

"Oh..you must mean Jack…..Jack..hey...hey...I...you…" Awareness worked across Sean's face as he rubbed it. "Your Anna...the Anna. The one Jack can't stop talking about...Anna."

"Seannnn…."

"Okay...okay. First I'm sorry about you and Morgan. I was young and full of myself. I'm not that guy anymore, so I'm sorry. Second I'm County and Jack is Federal but we share this space, work together. Third, Jack took the day off."

"Sean, just tell me where he is okay?"

"As far as I know he's home in Malibu surfing. It's what he does for fun and when he wants to think and reboot."

"What part of the beach and his address?"

"235 Bicknell Road and the beach where it dead ends…"

"Thank you. And Sean…"

"Yeah…"

"You tell Jack anything about me and you're dead. Got it?"

"Got it."

The water is warmer than usual for June with a slight breeze from the northwest. The waves are spaced well and breaking to the right but Jack is facing the ocean, not the beach. He sighs. _It can't get any better than this,_ he thinks. Well, he can think of a few things and one person in particular.

He didn't think he was a person that would pine away for someone, but here he was regretting things hadn't gone further with Anna. She had stopped returning his texts and calls a week ago. Still, she had inspired him to look into the Waldren case and stop wallowing. He had made a few enquiries and requests which should clarify some things. Megan had been great but he hoped she hadn't put herself at too much risk. He would find out soon anyhow. There was nothing to do but wait.

Jack was roused from his thoughts by the sound of paddling and movement in his peripheral vision to his right.

"You're an idiot. You know that, right?"

Jack turns to the voice and his ability to use the spoken language is lost to the vision before him. A petite goddess with her jet black hair in a long braid, her sun kissed skin accentuated by the bright white (and rather small) bikini, straddling a surfboard beside him.

After gulping a few times, Jack attempts to recover the ability to communicate.

"Ann...Anna?! I...I didn't know you surfed." _What?! I practically conjure up this woman I've just been thinking of and that's what I say?_

"Like I said...Yeah, I lived in Hawaii for a while. So what's up? You ditching my calls?"

"Wha...what? When did you call? Never mind. No...no I haven'...I would never…" Jack shakes his head a bit before resuming. "You weren't answering my calls. I thought you weren't interested so I stopped calling."

"Yeah, well maybe there is more than one idiot out here. I'm sorry Jack. I got involved in a really big project at work. It's taken me a little out of my depth and I haven't really done much else. I haven't even stopped to eat. See?" Anna waives her right arm up and down her torso, pleased with Jack's tracking it and that his eyes glaze over a little. "I really am sorry and…. Hey race you in!"

With that Anna paddles to catch the wave and is on her way. Jack shakes his head again and follows her in. _That girl is crazy and I'm crazy too. I know it. There is just something about her that yells untamed freedom and I can't resist it._

Jack pulled his board up on the beach greeted by a smiling Anna.

"Come on, we can talk at my apartment. It's just a couple of blocks from here. We can take my car or you can follow in yours."

Anna follows Jack's red Audi A4 station wagon up to his apartment. It's a studio apartment over a standalone garage that belongs to a million dollar beach house.

"Sometimes you get lucky" he says as he puts his board away. Anna and Jack head up the outside stairs to the apartment door.

"I met this guy surfing. His parents had this studio apartment built for him when he was in college. Once he graduated college and moved out, it became available. I scooped it up as quickly as I could. Sometimes you can hear the waves from the balcony, if the surf is hard and it's late at night"

As Anna enters the apartment she looks around and is impressed. The apartment is neat, tastefully decorated with matching furniture. Whatever Jack's college days were like, they were far behind him. No dishes in the sink, no dirty clothes cluttering about. It had a sense of normality that gave her a shiver.

"I hope you don't mind the mess?"

_What is he talking about?_

"Anna, I'm really sorry that we got off on the wrong track. I really like you and…"

Anna attacks Jack's lips. "You talk too much…"

Anna could taste the salt on his lips. As she moved to his neck she took in his scent and felt warmth spread from her stomach to the tips of her fingers and toes. Jack responded in kind, holding her tight and kissing her fervently. She broke the embrace only to pull him in the direction she assumed was the bedroom.

The bed was unmade but was filled with a savor that was woodsy and musky and all him. As she felt his weight press on her there was a sense of anticipation and that all was right with the world.

The next morning at Winterbourne Security, Edgar Winterbourne's executive assistant April Duchas met the florist's delivery at her desk. The Daffodils were lovely. She didn't recognize the delivery person but the ball cap was pulled low. She thought, offhandedly, that the woman was too attractive with her blond hair and long legs (and when had FTD drivers started wearing short, tight shorts?) for a delivery person but who was she to judge?

Sarah for her part seemed to recall a similar incident with her and Chuck. She was encouraged as these memories were returning with more frequency. For whatever reason working with Anna was turning out to be one of the best decisions she had made since deciding to stay with Chuck and try to work things out.

"From the Fulcrum Corporation, Thanks for all you do." read April. Curiously it was addressed to April. She figured it was some company trying to win favor with Mr. Winterbourne but decided she would enjoy them just the same.

Anna approaches the security line as usual and sees Drew Anders getting ready to pass through. She approaches him with a feline grace only to stumble into him at the last moment, knocking him to his knees.

"I am so sorry sir!" Anna looks down. "Goddam heels. Look, I broke one. They cost me $700!"

Drew Anders rises from the floor and takes in the small woman. "Yes...well watch where you're going, please. Someone could get hurt. I'm surprised you didn't get hurt just from the height of them."

Anna as if remembering her manners, brushes off the shoulders of his suit jacket and apologizes again.

"Are you alright? I'm so embarrassed."

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you ."

"I'm so sorry."

Drew Anders simply shrugs only to walk away while Anna looks on. She retreats to the ladies room where she replaces the shoes with the broken heel with her real Louboutin's and promptly discarding the other shoes.

"Thank God for knock-offs." she gloats and prepares to head up stairs.

The office is abuzz with chatter when she gets there. Anna thinks she knows why but stops Cooper Hayes to verify her suspicions. Her budding smirk is quickly wiped away.

"Drew Anders just informed us that Kevin was killed in an auto accident. Everyone is a little shocked ..."

"Oh my God!...a car accident?"

"Yeah and a wife and daughter at home too."

Just then the fire alarm starts going off and fire doors are shut. A mechanical voice directs the employees to the stairwells.

_**A week prior in Edgar Winterbourne's office**_

"We've just been put on the NSA's and CIA's radar. An enquiry on two former agents set off some big alarms. They're sending some agents to investigate. They will probably have a warrant but we should be able to put them off for a few weeks, maybe months with your legal team"

"How did this happen Anders. I pay you good money to protect our operation." replied Edgar Winterborne.

"Unknown and unanticipated. As far as we can tell routine public databases were accessed but apparently the agents were so important that the government monitors any and all searches on them. It happened down in Kevin O'Brian's section. We know that much. I'll be accompanying the agents and see what's going on down there. We'll give a run through of the workstations. I want to know who is responsible for this but I'll need Legal's back up to delay or kill the warrant...And there is something else."

Edgar had been going to ask who the agents were. "What?"

"While we were investigating the unauthorized search we found an untraceable search ...on you."

Edgar goes cold. "What did the search show up?"

"We don't know we just barely noticed it because the IP address...it was mine. It would seem we are dealing with an accomplished hacker but don't worry. Your data and the Hydra database are secure here in your office. No outside connections."

"Yes the US government should really be more careful how they store things. Alexei Volkoff really was a genius."

_**One week later, security briefing**_

"Hold on Rolf".

Rolf Cutchens head of Winterbourne Security's in house security unit and Edgar Winterbourne's personal security director stops mid-sentence. "Can we get a blow up of this woman's face?"

"Absolutely Mr. Winterbourne. In fact I was just getting to that." _If the old man would let me finish my presentation he would know that already._ Rolf moves to the next slide and recognition crosses Edgar's face.

"That's Sarah Walker. That's the agent that tried to kill me earlier this year on my plane just off the coast. I thought she was dead.

"We all did sir but surveillance places her at several points around the office building and your estate."

Edgar smirked. She had a reputation for being one of the best but she was picked up by his security like a rookie. Maybe that fall hadn't killed her but it sure made her sloppy.

"Thank you Mr. Winterbourne. We could not confirm her identity without facial recognition and that almost started another Federal investigation sir."

_**Present,**_

Drew Anders arrives at Edgar Winteborne's office as soon as possible after the alert and quickly assesses the situation. All electronics have been disabled in April's office area.

He examines the flowers and the note. _Just as as he suspected a portable degausser/EMP and...Fulcrum?!_ He immediately goes to check on Edgar and his office not noticing the small glow on his suit jacket.

"Edgar, We need to back up the Hydra database and get it off site now!"

"What the hell's going on Anders? I get into work and all of a sudden lights flash and my office is put on lockdown. Are we under attack or something? All I could see from the monitors were the lights going out and a lot of movement before you showed up."

"Remember that hacker we were talking about last week?"

"O'Brian? I had security take care of him yesterday. They made it look like an accident on the 5…"

"It's not him or at least not only him. The attack today went from electronic to onsite...Look you take care of the organization and let me take care of this mess."

Edgar immediately takes the backup portable hard drive and heads out of the office.

"April contact my security detail at my home and tell them to be especially observant for a statuesque blond woman. They'll know what I mean. And let my company detail meet me at the private elevator in the parking garage.

As Edgar leaves the elevator he is met by Rolf. "Security footage in lobby after the attack confirms that Walker was in the building Boss."

"Keep everyone on alert Rolf. I don't know what her plan is but I'm pretty sure of her end game. I want this bitch stopped yesterday. Got it?"

"Got it Boss. Here's the Limo." Rolf opens the door and Edgar steps in. As the limousine leaves, Edgar let's the driver know to take him to his estate in Beverly Hills.

Later Drew Anders is relieved to see Edgar's computer is safe. There was no sign of damage at all. Walker (Security had identified the suspected culprit as a woman named Sarah Walker. Unknown to him but Edgar had assured Drew she was extremely dangerous and seemed to have a bone to pick with him) had miscalculated and only destroyed the electronics outside Edgar's office.

"Everything's fine in here April. Well have you up and running tomorrow."

"Thank you so much Mr. Anders. I don't know what we would do without you...eww." April picks something off Drew's suit jacket. "Your cat must be shedding." and she throws the clump of hair in the trash not noticing that clump of "hairs" don't separate and upon close inspection would look like small optic fibers.

"That's odd. I don't have a cat."

As Edgar attempts to call his estate security, he finds he is without any service. He calls to his driver but there is no answer. He repeats his call with continued silence, he starts to break into a cold sweat and a chill runs up his back. Suddenly the doors lock and the privacy partition lowers revealing a clear unmoving partition and for some unknown reason a Felix the Cat bobble head on the dash. Edgar immediately un-holsters his weapon and points to the driver.

"Sarah Walker! Now...This. Is brazen. Stop the car..right now!"

Sarah's eyes widen for a second before narrowing. "I wouldn't do that Winterbourne unless you want get killed with your own bullet. Not that I would mind per se but I have plans for you. That clear barrier is bullet proof as is the rest of the passenger compartment as you well know. I'm blocking incoming or outgoing phone communication and…" Sarah presses a button on what looks like a key fob. "...oops! annnd there goes your phone."

Edgars phone starts to smoke and he struggles to get it off his person. "You fucking cu…"

"Sorry, I can't hear you over the music!" Sarah floods the passenger cabin with Metallica's "Enter Sandman" on a repeat loop. She smiles as she turns the volume to "eleven", thankful that the cabin is also sound proof.

Sarah continues to drive through a residential area checking her watch frequently. With a satisfied grunt Sarah brings the limo to stop hitting a bump as it slows. The locked passenger doors unlock. Edgar seizing the moment opens the door and jumps and rolls. Sarah attempts to give chase but loses Edgar down an alley.

About a half hour later, Edgar runs up to the gate of his estate. After buzzing repeatedly a voice answers.

"How may I help….Mr. Winterbourne! What? How?..."

"Just let me the fuck in Carter. Take me up to the house." The gate is opened and a man on a golf cart meets Edgar in the driveway.

Edgar jumps into the cart as the driver turns around. "Is everything okay at the house? Any problems?"

"No...no sir everything is quiet." the man says as he takes in Edgar's disheveled appearance. "Johnson was concerned that we couldn't get a hold of you. Is everything alright?"

"Does it look like it's fucking alright Carter! Sarah Walker tried to abduct me and I luckily escaped. I want this place on lockdown...Now!"

"On it sir."

Carter takes his phone and calls the main house. It takes a minute as they answer then he responds.

"Johnson this is Carter. Mr. Winterbourne...Yes I have him...no. no. I'll debrief you later. Mr Winterbourne wants the estate put on lockdown immediately. Good." Carter turns to Edgar "All taken care sir."

Edgar breathes a sigh of relief. This day was rapidly going FUBAR.

When Edgar arrives at his house he rushes to his bedroom. He misses the multiple boxes of sizzling shrimp scattered amongst his security detail. He doesn't miss the white paw print on his empty safe. Or Johnson rushing in declaring the food that Edgar ordered for them seems to have been drugged.

"I didn't order any food?! Wait...the delivery person. How would you describe them?

"Asian, female...why? Besides we can just look at the surveillance footage"

"Edgar lets out a sigh of defeat. Realization had dawned. Sarah Walker had an accomplice, probably the hacker Anders was concerned about. She wasn't sloppy, she was the distraction. Fuck!

"You can try but my guess is that you'll find it wiped. Get my lawyer on the line."

"But Mr. Win…"

"Just do it Johnson."

A/N: I think it will be one more chapter to wrap up this story. Thanks for reading.


	7. Chapter 7 Catty Corner Part 4

_Disclaimer: No ownership is stated or implied to the television show Chuck or its characters. No money or profit is being made from this work. Any resemblance of a character to any real persons living or dead is purely coincidental._

_This story is a sequel to "What's New Pussycat" a previous chapter in "Tales From The Intersect". It is also has not been reviewed by my beta, so all mistakes are mine. Musical influences: "Too Close" by Alex Clare and "I Can't Stand The Rain" by Seal. Fanon influences: Moonlight Pilot/Frea O'Scanlin's "Walkers Eleven", ersk4's "Chuck vs The Super Spy" and Arya's prayers "Becoming"._

A/N: A small epilogue chapter to tie up some loose ends.

Chapter 4

_**Burbank, later that week**_

"Hey Baby! I've been so busy at CI. I forgot to ask. How did those shakedown tests of the prototype equipment go?"

"Excellent. From what I could tell everything worked flawlessly."

"I hope you didn't mind the cat motif. It was a homage to your time on the C.A.T. Squad…"

"No it was cute and my co-tester thought it was fabulous."

"Yeah. You never did tell me who you were working with…"

"Well I can tell you who it wasn't. I still can't believe it was Amy that was the mole. We thought she was so sweet!"

Chuck's eyes widen "Honey we haven't covered that part of your missing memories yet. How did.."

"Chuck...I'm starting to remember. I'm starting to remember us. I've known I was in love with you even when I couldn't remember. We had a rule "No secrets, no lies" and starting today I want to re- institute that again. I'm sorry I lied. I was just so scared and I reacted as nothing but a spy. I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to be that anymore. A good friend of mine said I need to un-complicate things with you and me, so today I'm starting to. I love you Chuck. I have for a very long time. I want to spend the rest of my life loving you."

Chuck's eyes begin to mist. "Sarah...I...you...so long." He shakes his head. "I love you too Sarah. I always have and I always will."

Sarah crashes into Chuck searching and finding his willing lips as they embrace each other. Finally as air becomes a necessity they stop kissing and assess the effect they have on one another.

"Wow...wow! This is wonderful...this is great! I really need to meet this friend of yours Sarah."

"Chuck you know her already."

"I do?" Chuck's mind starts racing through a number of possibilities. The red headed kind at the top of the list."

"Yeah, you worked with her for years. You know Anna Wu. From the Nerd Herd?"

"Anna Wu?!

"Yeah Anna. We met by accident one day and guess what she had an experience with an intersect too. At least we think she…"

"Sarah, Honey? Come sit down on the couch Baby. We need to talk…"

Jack waited for Anna. He briefly thought about the impending rain but his feet would be bound to that spot until he saw her. She had said she would go with him to the hearing.

He really wanted her to see that he wasn't a loser. He thought she cared for him in spite of that and he counted himself blessed to be on the receiving end of her heart. He had fallen so hard for her but they really were still getting to know each other.

Eventually he saw her, as beautiful as ever walking up the steps. The look on her face gave him pause though as she met him outside the courthouse. He pushed on anyhow willing his instincts to tell him something different.

"Thanks for coming Anna. It means a lot to me. I mean I put some work in but those anonymous files that were sent to me at the Bureau and the YouTube exposure got things expedited."

He still didn't know where the files came from but they had been authenticated. He could have asked Megan to look into it but after her help in spite of almost getting her in trouble, he decided that he wouldn't risk their friendship anymore.

He had to laugh at the juvenile sense of humor that was responsible for the YouTube account "winterbourneyoureadick" and the incriminating videos. He wondered if the same anonymous hacker was responsible for both.

The new evidence he had come up with after reviewing the case and making some requests, really made a case against Edgar Winterbourne. The federal government classified the crimes as terrorist acts and pushed up the hearing. They had even tried to apprehend Drew Anders but he seemed to have dropped off the map.

Anna just looked away. Jack's heart was pricked "What's up Anna? I'll do anything."

"I know Jack. I know. That's part of the problem…"

"Anna…"

"Jack...Jack I care for you…" Jack sighs in relief.

"...but I can't be with you."

"What?!..."

"I...There are things about me Jack. I'm changing and I can't take you with me on that journey, especially now as your career is starting again. You're getting on track and I'm lost."

"Anna, Let me help you."

"Trust me you're better off without me."

"I can't even imagine that world…"

"Goodbye Jack!" and Anna takes off. Even with hearing about to get started, Jack is tempted to run after her but in a moment she is gone. Jack breathes deep a few times. A calming exercise and enters the courthouse. _I love you Anna._

Anna stares back at Jack from a safe distance across the corner from the courthouse. She has blended into a crowd with another one of her Sarah skills. Within seconds she wipes the tear tracks away. She has a list compiled from information taken from Edgar Winterboune's safe.

Working with Sarah had been illuminating. She has some answers but she she's not sure where the ghost of Sarah Walker ends and she begins. The list will let her find out...at least that's the plan. Her decision to follow that plan put her on the opposite side of the street from Jack and there was no way she would make him choose. This was all on her. She just hoped he'd find someone else and be happy even if it couldn't be with her. The rain starts to fall and Anna again melts into the background.

As Jack enters courtroom 207 he hears the bailiff. "The State versus Edgar Winterbourne. All rise."

"We tried Edgar…"

Edgar's words were like ice "I don't pay you to try Samuels. I pay you to protect me and get results."

"Well maybe you should have given more to the President's re-election campaign because that's the only way you're getting out of custody for crimes of terrorism."

Edgar finds himself being escorted by FBI agents to a secure holding cell. Later he is taken to an enclosed prisoner transport that quickly sets off. Two hours later after travelling on what seemed to be the roughest interstate ever, the vehicle comes to a stop. Minutes tick by before the doors open to a bright desert vista. After adjusting to the glare Edgar sees the man with the pistol.

"Alejandro?"

"Hector!." The pistol roars. "Rule number one. Don't turn your back on a Bulldog." The pistol roars again. "Miss me motherfucker?"

_**One month later,**_

"May. Would you send Major Fitzgerald in please? Thank you."

"Yes ma'am." May Flores General Beckman's executive assistant and trained NSA analyst looked at the man waiting to see General Beckman. He had introduced himself as Major John "just call me Fitz" Fitzgerald. She was unsure if it was nervous small talk or true interest but he had tried to engage her in conversation while he waited to see the general.

He had just been promoted and would be one of the general's liaisons for intelligence updates. May smiled. She knew the general could be quite the taskmaster and wondered how the Major would do in his first debrief. She hoped he wouldn't live up to her newly imagined nickname for him. Major "Fitz".

"Major...the General will see you now."

General Beckman dispensed with pleasantries "Major Fitzgerald, what do you have for me."

"Uh… yes Ma'am. I have an update on the Winterbourne situation. As you know, the case against Winterbourne was broken wide open by a young FBI agent that worked with him a few years ago."

"In spite of the damning evidence exposing Winterbourne, it was going to be ruled inadmissible until Agent Lingo presented DNA evidence linking Winterbourne to the assassination of two FBI agents in 2008."

"We thought, based on the previous evidence, Winterbourne was involved in some sort of homegrown terrorism. We had no idea. The new evidence linked him to Fulcrum and has been confirmed by a Fulcrum asset involved in that case that we still have in custody.

"Well once we found the Fulcrum connection we were able to dig a little deeper. It would appear that Alejandro Nova and Winterbourne had grown up together and were involved in a local gang in Los Angeles called the Bulldogs, before going to college and joining the FBI together."

Winterbourne apparently abused that relationship in order to retrieve the stolen Fulcrum database and left his friend out to dry relying on the honor code of the Bulldogs to cover him. Which it seems to have done...for years. It was Alejandro Nova who was responsible for assisting in Winterbourne's escape from custody after his hearing in Federal Court."

"So this accomplice was FBI, that explains a lot. I have a report that Winterbourne is dead. Please elaborate."

"We think Winterbourne underestimated his betrayal to his friend. Nova had been diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of cancer and forced to retire a few weeks before Winterbourne was arrested.

We believe he orchestrated the escape by pulling some strings and calling some favors to take possession of the transport.

The prisoner transport was found deep in the desert a few days ago under a camouflage canopy. It was an apparent murder/suicide. Not a pleasant sight so I hear. Preliminary autopsies confirm the body's of that of Nova and Winterbourne."

"What about Anna Wu?"

"She seems to have disappeared Ma'am. We don't believe this was due to foul play but rather her own choice."

"Have your analysts and field agents keep her on their radar. My debrief with the agent that was working with her has led me to believe she could be an asset. But right now she is just a loose cannon. Now what about Anders?"

"He has successfully disappeared as well. We believe he may be hiding out amongst the Fulcrum remnants. We also believe he has a backup of Winterbourne's version of the Hydra database."

"Thank you Major. That will be all."

Sarah and Chuck are in the study at their house waiting for a video conference with the NSA to discuss ongoing operational issues concerning Carmichael Industries.

"General Beckman asked for this video conference Sarah. It may to include information about the Winterbourne case. The General said she would keep us up to date on any developments. Are you going to be okay? I know you're disappointed, especially after everything that happened."

"It's okay Chuck. As bad as Edgar Winterbourne is, Anna was right. Following through on my original plan would just have put me deeper into the hole I was digging for myself. I'm much happier looking forward to my future instead of wallowing in my past." She pins his eyes and raises her eyebrows.

"I'm so glad to hear that Sarah."

Within seconds the visage of the petite fiery general comes across the screen.

"Sarah, Chuck. I want to update you on several current operations Carmichael Industries has been involved with but before we get started I would like to put to bed the Winterbourne case".

At the use of "put to bed" both Sarah and Chuck's eyebrows raise in surprise.

"The details are classified but rest assured Edgar Winterbourne will never cause trouble for this country or you ever again…"

As good as that news is Sarah interrupts "Any word on Anna Wu General?"

She's been worried about her friend. Anna said that she had some things to work out and would contact her when she could. Sarah wonders if it hadn't been for Anna if her memories would have started coming back as fast. She finds that she misses her "amnesia sister".

"We have some resources following her situation Sarah. Based on your report, the Fulcrum intersect is bleeding through but only in small doses. Nothing like last time. She has your skills and some of your memories but retains her own very unique personality. My suspicion is we won't find her unless she wants to be found. Please let me know if she tries to make contact with you."

"Yes...of course General."

"Now, Chuck have you been able to evaluate the Hydra database?"

"I'm working on it General. I have no idea where Hartley Winterbottom is and quite frankly since the database was created by the Volkoff persona I'm not sure if he could help."

"Right now I'm comparing the version we downloaded off the main server at Winterborne Security to the version we captured with Alexei Volkoff. Hartley really is a genius but I think I'll be able to exploit some weak spots if the need arises"

"Good. We're going to need those capabilities if Drew Anders surfaces or worse attempts to finish Edgar Winterbourne's plan for rebuilding Fulcrum. Now on to old business...I would like an update on the Libyan weapons consortium you've been tracking through their Swiss bank accounts…"

Anna breathed a sigh of relief as she exited the airport in Hamburg. Her inner Sarah or her Sarahsect as she had come to think of it, had come through again. No one had suspected Lín Xiǎowēi, sixteen year old _male_ exchange student was her. Her hair would grow back soon enough.

It occurred to her that no one was looking for her but she doubted it based on what she had picked up while working with Sarah.

The work Jack had put in not only pegged Winterbourne for two murders but implicated him in a home grown terrorist organization and she had been in the middle of it.

Anna sighed. Jack. How many times had she almost turned around and headed back to California, to him. There was a part of her that wanted the normalcy of a boyfriend and maybe more but now she was filled with a restlessness that did not seem to abate. That she needed to keep moving, keep working or something terrible would overtake her.

She recognized the thrill and excitement of the espionage work she had done with Sarah and found that she quite liked it. She had Winterbourne's list; seven people that he was working with to re-form an organization in the U.S. With this overwhelming need to keep moving, the list would provide the focus. Maybe then she would find herself back in Los Angeles.

A/N: Thus ends another installment in the "White Cat" series. I hope it was entertaining. I also hope I didn't throw anybody with "Hector". Mark Pellegrino was simply listed as "Fulcrum agent" in the IMDB for EP 2 x 07 and "Hector" in EP 5 x 13 but Edgar Winterbourne in the Chuck Wiki (?) with a backstory. I tried to tie them together. I don't know if there will be more of the "White Cat" but I have some ideas. Chow.


End file.
